- #1
Algr
- 884
- 407
Hi PF!
So I was reading about the possibility of life on planets orbiting red dwarf stars, and it was said that the major problem was that the planet would become tidally locked. With half the planet in eternal darkness, the whole atmosphere would freeze on the dark side, leaving the planet barren.
But it seems to me that on a tidally locked planet, the sun would still move dramatically if the planet's orbit was highly elliptical. In this drawing, I have a figure marking one point on the planet, with the planet's year marked at four equal times. From the figure's POV, the sun is directly overhead only on the first days of summer and winter. For spring and fall, the sun is almost at the horizon!
An area around the figure would have constant daylight, and the opposing area would have constant darkness, but much of the planet would have sunrises and sunsets, with the sun at it's largest when it was low in the sky. (Thus filtering out more radiation.) Given that the planets "year/day" could be only a few days or even one day long, doesn't this look quite habitable?
So I was reading about the possibility of life on planets orbiting red dwarf stars, and it was said that the major problem was that the planet would become tidally locked. With half the planet in eternal darkness, the whole atmosphere would freeze on the dark side, leaving the planet barren.
But it seems to me that on a tidally locked planet, the sun would still move dramatically if the planet's orbit was highly elliptical. In this drawing, I have a figure marking one point on the planet, with the planet's year marked at four equal times. From the figure's POV, the sun is directly overhead only on the first days of summer and winter. For spring and fall, the sun is almost at the horizon!
An area around the figure would have constant daylight, and the opposing area would have constant darkness, but much of the planet would have sunrises and sunsets, with the sun at it's largest when it was low in the sky. (Thus filtering out more radiation.) Given that the planets "year/day" could be only a few days or even one day long, doesn't this look quite habitable?