|
Posted by George on August 10, 2007, 11:16 am
Please log in for more thread options
>-> Though the planet is much closer to its star than earth is to the
> -> Sun,
> -> conditions are similar because the Gliese 581, known as a red dwarf,
> -> is smaller
> -> and colder. One year lasts only 13 days on the planet.
>
> I assume that means that the planet takes 13 earth-days to go around
> the star.
>
> Almost certainly, a planet that close to its star would have its
> rotation tidally locked to its orbital motion. So one side of the
> planet would have permanent "day", and the other half would have
> permanent "night". The night side would probably be very cold, so
> materials such as water would be frozen solid there. No water would
> exist on the day side, since it would migrate to the night side and be
> trapped there as ice. This doesn't seem to me to be a plausible home
> for life - at least, not life similar to ours.
>
> dow
Could there exist boundary conditions (such as near the terminator) which
would allow liquid water? One would think it should be possible.
George
| 
XML Sitemap