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The planet has the characteristics of Venus in terms of mass (0.815 Earths), density (5.243g/cm3), surface area (0.902 Earths) and gravity (8.87m/s). It has an Earth-like atmosphere,water covers about 80% of surface. Like Mars it has an orbital period of 687 days and a tilt of 25°,with an eccentricity of 0.0934 and a mean anomaly of 19.412. Basically Venus with Mars's orbit. I am considering a bond albedo of 0.35, distance from star 1.4 AU. In particular I am interested in any aspect that could render the planet inhabitable as in my story this is supposed to be a "second Earth". I would also appreciate if you can point to any "unlike Earth" features than wouldn't disrupt habitability but would make living there a different experience. Thanks in advance!

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  • $\begingroup$ You neglect to mention the rotation period, which is nearly identical between Earth and Mars, but drastically different for Venus. $\endgroup$
    – Christopher James Huff
    Dec 2, 2021 at 18:03
  • $\begingroup$ Let's use Mars's rotation period, 24h39min $\endgroup$
    – Aristeus
    Dec 2, 2021 at 21:12

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Mars is close to the outer edge of the sun's habitable zone by most estimates, and a planet orbiting a K0V star at the same distance would be even dimmer and colder. Wikipedia gives an estimated habitable zone for K-type stars that extends out to 1.3 AU, and that criteria is based on being able to support liquid water, not being able to do so with an Earth-like atmosphere. So, this planet would be largely frozen. It might be terraformable by measures like artificially boosting its greenhouse effect with HFCs, but I expect it'd be too dim and cool to be considered a second Earth.

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  • $\begingroup$ I tend to agree. Re-reading my question it dawned on me that the planet is outside habitable zone. I've also taken into consideration a terraforming action or a stronger greenhouse effect but you pointed it would also be dim so the easiest solution would be to just chose a brighter star ( star type is not important for the story). Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – Aristeus
    Dec 2, 2021 at 23:51
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switch Venus and Mars orbit. And make Venus habitable... Purely from conjecture. The biggest differences being Venus is a bit smaller than earth, would be farther from the sun, more importantly it has no moon. Venus has a retrograde rotation, asking why starts fights. And has a day longer than it's year. The length of it's days has been measured to to vary, slowing 6.5 minutes over the past 16 years. This is largely from the Suns heating of its thick atmosphere.
Without a moon to stabilize planetary tilt, rotation period, and at that distance from the sun, a rotation period closer to earths should be expected. likely a bit faster/shorter day. Arguably a moon would be essential for a persistent planetary dynamo fending off solar wind and radiation. A planet much larger than Mars in its current orbit would have a grater chance of capturing a moon Or Three) from the asteroid belt, or have had a few more major impacts or maybe a decent chance of having rings from destroyed moonlets that did not normalize their orbits. Most if not all planets have had rings at least in one point in their life. Saturns rings are only about 100M years old. and will probably be gone in another 1-200M years.

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    $\begingroup$ It's not conjecture, just not scientific. During the Trojan war Aphrodite-Venus was wounded and took Ares-Mars' chariot to reach Olympus. $\endgroup$
    – Aristeus
    Dec 2, 2021 at 23:54
  • $\begingroup$ A moon is not at all required for a planetary dynamo. And this planet is orbiting some K0V star that isn't stated to even have an asteroid belt. $\endgroup$
    – Christopher James Huff
    Dec 3, 2021 at 3:15
  • $\begingroup$ Neither does it state it does not have an asteroid belt. Also: The Moon may be a major factor in keeping Earth's magnetic field, according to new research. ... Tidal effects caused by the Moon deform Earth's mantle, and it is this effect that could be simulating the motion of liquid iron alloy making up the planet's outer core. This would generate and maintain Earth's magnetic field.Mar 31, 2018 [link]skyatnightmagazine.com/news/… . $\endgroup$
    – Gillgamesh
    Dec 3, 2021 at 12:41

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