Rationalizing a Firefly - Serenity type setting

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Yes, we most certainly can. There can't be that much Earth-sized stuff stuffed into habitable zones. It's impossible. That has nothing to do with planetary formation but just orbital dynamics and thermodynamics. Nor is it possible without without divine intervention to suddenly transform lifeless little rocks into worlds with full ecosystems, shirtsleeve environments, and earth-normal gravity.

Given that they've found strong evidence for inner system gas giants in positions where "there can't be enough mass" for them to have formed there, again, your denial of its possibility lacks credibility.

The math says it's possible for them to be stable there if the primaries are high mass (in order to reduce the hill spheres of the bodies in orbit). Nature shows that things exist in places where conventional wisdom says they cannot have formed; ipso facto, either they formed elsewhere and moved, or they formed by a process other than that presumed in conventional wisdom.

"My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." - J.B.S. Haldane.

Jack seems to be less bent than Joss...