Hacker News Reader

Is this relevant to the Fermi paradox? If 1% of observed systems are estimated to still be in resonance, that means that 99% are not and have had some kind of significant event to knock them out of resonance.

View on HN

> Is this relevant to the Fermi paradox? If 1% of observed systems are estimated to still be in resonance, that means that 99% are not and have had some kind of significant event to knock them out of resonance.

The planets in our Solar System don't exhibit this type of resonance (some of their moons do), and we are here, so 'no'

So far

These planets all have very short orbital periods, between 9 and 55 days. By Kepler’s third law (p^2 ~ a^3), we know that these planets are all very close to their star. Much closer than Mercury is to the Sun (p ~ 116 days). Their close proximity leads to gravitational interactions when they pass by one another. This gradually leads to a very stable orbital resonance due to constructive interference.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com