2006MNRAS.373.1227D

In this work, we study the stability of hypothetical satellites of extrasolar planets. Through numerical simulations of the restricted elliptic three-body problem we found the borders of the stable regions around the secondary body. From the empirical results, we derived analytical expressions of the critical semimajor axis beyond which the satellites would not remain stable. The expressions are given as a function of the eccentricities of the planet, e_P, and of the satellite, e_sat. In the case of prograde satellites, the critical semimajor axis, in the units of Hill's radius, is given by a_E~ 0.4895 (1.0000 - 1.0305e_P - 0.2738e_sat). In the case of retrograde satellites, it is given by a_E~ 0.9309 (1.0000 - 1.0764e_P- 0.9812e_sat). We also computed the satellite stability region (a_E) for a set of extrasolar planets. The results indicate that extrasolar planets in the habitable zone could harbour the Earth-like satellites.