Astrophysical investigation on the virtual planet pandora in Avatar film

The story of “AVATAR” happened in an imaginary planet “Pandora”. It is in the nearest stellar system from us, which is a triple star system located in the constellation Centauri. Currently, only one Earth-size planet has been detected around Proxima Centauri in 2016 by radial velocity technique, and any Jupiter-size planet has been ruled out around all the three stars. The result is in conflict with the scenario in “AVATAR” film, where “Pandora” is an Earth-size moon of Polyphemus, a Jupiter-size planet around Centauri B. Earth-size planets in habitable zones around Centauri A and Centauri B are still possible but have not been detected in the precision of current observations. Considering the dynamical complexity of planets in triple star system, which may induce extreme climate change in the possible habitable planets to prohibit development of civilization, we take long-term orbital revolution simulation to explore the stability of Earth-size planet in habitable zones around stars. We focus on habitable planets around Centauri A and Centauri B, as they are close, the average distance between them is small than the size of Solar system. We found that habitable planets with orbits aligned with the binary orbit are long-term stable. However, the orbital eccentricity and inclination changes a lot, if the planetary orbits significantly are tilted with the binary orbit. In comparison with the Milankovitch cycles observed in paleoclimate, we conclude that the titled planets in habitable zone around Centauri A and Centauri B cannot support development of intelligent life.