Does being tidally locked affect a planet's magnetic field?

  • #1
Althistorybuff
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Quick question from an amateur:

Assume you have a tidally locked rocky planet around a red dwarf star.

I've heard that a magnetic field is or can be dependent upon the rotation of a planet (I've read that the lack of rotation of Venus was a possible reason for the weak magnetic field among other explanations like a severe collision in Venus' past which wrecked the convection process). Would this mean that tidally locked planets would not have a strong magnetic field?

Would lack of rotation affect convection from a hypothetical planet's mantle?

Would, say, a thirty day solar orbit be enough to churn the convection process?

Is this rotation needed at all?

I'm trying to understand if red dwarf stars would have the potential for habitable planets.

Thanks for any feedback.
 
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  • #2
No, magnetic fields are not generally significant in regarding heat emission of a planet.
Red stars though, could well harbour habitable planets regardless of magnetic fields.
The thing that a magnetic field does for Earth, is stopping the solar wind from stripping atoms from Earths atmosphere.
Not all planets have a magnetic field though, in fact smaller planets tend not to have one.
Being tidally locked though, that presents more of a problem.
Such planets will have only marginal regions on them that could be considered as habitable.
 
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  • #3
Thanks.
 

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