Questions tagged [day-night]
For questions regarding the day-night cycle of a day on a world. Usually regarding the dark-light cycle.
96
questions
4
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1answer
154 views
Under which circumstances could a planet have two visible suns?
In the story I'm making, it is important that there are two suns in the sky, going at different rythms (maybe the planet orbits one of them each year, and the other each four years, for instance), and ...
2
votes
3answers
95 views
Could a planet have a week long day and a week long night depending on the season?
Essentially I'm looking for a plausible way that a planet could have odd, extreme seasons. Basically I'm wondering how (or if) a planet could work that has a week long day during the summer and a week ...
4
votes
2answers
68 views
Alien Speices with extreme day/night cycle
I am creating this alien species and they live on three separate worlds blah blah, that doesn't matter right now.
This one planet I have has a fairly long day-night cycle (I haven't decided on how ...
5
votes
2answers
143 views
Creating “Sunfall” on the moon of a gas giant
I'm attempting to figure out the orbital physics of a system that has a habitable body that has intense periods of waxing and waning sunlight. I've come to the assumption that the best body for this ...
7
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9answers
1k views
Realistic ways a Planet or Large Moon could have Variable Day/Night periods
Hello I imagine this is a pretty straightforward question, perhaps already covered in another post, but I wanted to get extra perspectives and options for achieving this type of planet or moon. So ...
4
votes
1answer
137 views
Days and Seasons via Daily Eclipses in a Flat World
While working on the cosmos of a flat world, I came upon the idea of using a dim sum rotating about an axis through the central pole (as described here) in order to accomplish days and seasons. The ...
3
votes
2answers
86 views
Sleep Cycles on very fast and very slow rotating worlds Part 2
This is the same as my previous question Sleep Cycles on very fast and very slow rotating worlds Part 1 but this part is for how humans settling these world would alter their sleep cycles!
I would ...
4
votes
1answer
92 views
Sleep Cycles on very fast and very slow rotating worlds Part 1
Related previous question.
How would sleep cycles work on planets with day-night cycles greater than 48 hours or less than 6 hours? This part is primarily for wildlife that evolved there.
Native ...
2
votes
1answer
83 views
Does day length determine metabolism?
Would an organism that evolved on a world with a short day length have a faster metabolism in comparison to one that evolved on a slower rotating world?
4
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2answers
237 views
Sleeping in a world without night
I'm working on a game world where light (Lux) gives literal definition to all matter. Anything in complete shadow (Umbra) is without definition and completely amorphous.
At the center of the world, ...
6
votes
7answers
273 views
Always night in one hemisphere. Is it viable?
I am building a world where one side of the planet has normal progression of day and night whereas in the other hemisphere it is always night.
At first I had no idea how this could be possible in the ...
8
votes
2answers
269 views
Nocturnal Photosynthesis
It's a basic fact that most plants need sunlight to generate growth. Sure, they also need water and nutrients, but their reliance on sunlight is the one sole thing that separates them from animals.
...
4
votes
3answers
231 views
How could I scientifically explain a world with day/night cycle only on the equator?
I'd like to build a world that has one pole where it's constantly day (all year long) and the weather is very hot, and one where it's constantly night (all year long) and the weather is freezing.
I'd ...
6
votes
7answers
872 views
A planet of ice and fire
I had an idea for a planet which has very hot days, roughly 40 degrees C on average, and very cold nights, average -5 degrees. These figures are subject to change. Of course, there are places which ...
5
votes
4answers
286 views
Could a Stanford torus rotate on an additional axis to give it a diurnal cycle?
Suppose you have a regular old Stanford torus space station with a 'glass ceiling' rotating at 1.3 RPM. Put it in orbit around a star such that its axis of rotation intersects the star (in other words,...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Seasons & days with steep axial tilt?
Given tilt of about 90deg (like Uranus), with day & year like Venus (day longer than year), orbiting a purple (brown) dwarf (not tidal locked). I'm having trouble getting "seasons" & day ...
2
votes
6answers
235 views
Would separating people into 2 groups help the economy in any way?
Would splitting humans into two groups, those that work and live during the night, and those that work and live during the day, help the economy in any way?
What would be other considerations of ...
5
votes
3answers
248 views
What is the optimal sleep scheduling strategies for a 24h sleep cycle on a 48h day planet?
I have a planet with days that is exactly two times longer than in real world. I'm trying to find out the best time to sleep if people still need as much sleep as they do even if they are on a planet ...
4
votes
2answers
132 views
Is it safe to have an earth-like temperature for a 48-hour day-night cycle on a big planet?
I want this planet to be very earth-like on all aspects except for its size and the day-night cycle. The circumference is three times greater than the earth's circumference. The day-night cycle lasts ...
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votes
4answers
2k views
Ways other than sleep to restore cells/neurons
So I have a planet with multiple species on it. My planet is tidally locked. I know it is generally thought a tidally locked planet couldn't harbor life because of the extreme temperatures, but my ...
9
votes
1answer
754 views
If the Earth was part of an ultimate solar system, what would the sky look like?
I once show a picture depicticting the idea of an ultimate solar system:
Image Copyright Sean Raymond
In this solar system there are 8 planetary orbits, each containing 52 equal-mass, evenly-spaced ...
5
votes
5answers
556 views
What are the day and night fluctuations for a moon orbiting a planet the size of Jupiter?
In a nutshell, I'm trying to build a world with erratic day/night cycles.
To get the erratic days, I'm working with a habitable moon. It takes 3 full earth days (72 hours) for the habitable moon to ...
6
votes
2answers
181 views
2 weeks day, 2 weeks night, how would the sleeping pattern of the planet's dominant species work with a 28 'day' Day?
Okay, so I have this binary planet system. The main planet a bit bigger than earth with a size appropriate moon-planet. Both are habitable and with a humanoid species that evolved there.
But, I know ...
2
votes
4answers
182 views
Day/night cycle science help?
So I am building a world but need help with its day/night cycle and the science to make it work.
The planet has a 32 hours day cycle, however there is only 10 hours of light a day. This planet is ...
3
votes
1answer
203 views
How would a 384 hour day/night cycle on a desert planet affect the weather?
The planet has a slow rotation around its axis, taking 384 hours for a full day and night cycle at the equator. There is one large continent which takes up around one third of the planets surface. The ...
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8answers
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Why would it be unfortunate for a day length to vary in a planet; other than that Java API developers need to work a few hours more? [closed]
Quoting from the Java Docs:
Unfortunately, as the Earth rotates the length of the day varies. In
addition, over time the average length of the day is getting longer as
the Earth slows.
I am ...
8
votes
3answers
281 views
Effects of 6 hours days on my planet
One of the planets I am working on is supposed to have a day of about 6 earth hours long & I’m wondering what effects this will have on its surface and climate. Also, I don’t know if this is ...
5
votes
6answers
275 views
What sort of setup of a binary star system would allow only one sun to be “up” at a time?
I have a sci-fi/fantasy world with two suns. Only one sun can be present in the sky at a time. A full day-night cycle would be:
Night time
Sun 1 rises
Sun 1 sets
Sun 2 rises
Sun 2 sets
Night time
Is ...
4
votes
5answers
219 views
A planetary region with no night and no tidal locking?
Without tidal locking, would it be possible to have a planet with a region roughly the shape and size of the USA and Canada in which it is always "day"? (By day I mean at least as bright as a clear ...
2
votes
3answers
111 views
How would the people survive in darkness and be affected by the short periods of sunlight?
I'm trying to make a fantasy world with a longer night cycle than day.
With the advice of Renan, 12 hours of proper night, 4 hours of near/partial dark and 8 hours of good light. Similar to earth the ...
8
votes
4answers
398 views
How would flora be affected by longer night than day cycle?
Night/Day Cycle
I'm trying to make a fantasy world with a longer night cycle than day.
With the advice of Renan, 12 hours of proper night, 4 hours of near/partial dark and 8 hours of good light. ...
3
votes
3answers
158 views
How thick does an atmosphere have to be in order to make the sky “light up” during “daytime” human or near human ocular sensitivity?
If a planet were to have a very thin atmosphere how thick or thin would it have to be to allow there to be a daytime and a nighttime given human or near human ocular sensitivity?
In other words, ...
2
votes
2answers
166 views
How would the length of a day-night cycle affect a planet's climate?
I am envisioning a habitable world with an atmosphere comparable to earth's in which one day is extremely long (>100 earth years). Human settlers have successfully colonized a small portion of the ...
2
votes
1answer
135 views
A K-Type Binary Dawn/Dusk in the Equator
In this alternate scenario, Earth is the third planet in a binary star system. One star is a K-type main sequence star--or "orange dwarf"--that has 80% the mass of a G-type main sequence star--or "...
1
vote
1answer
434 views
Earth Orbits a K-Type Star. What Would the Visual Scenery Look Like?
To clarify on the title, K-type main-sequence stars--shortened as "orange dwarves"--are subjects of excitement for astronomers and astrobiologists.
Why?
They emit enough radiation to provide a ...
8
votes
7answers
952 views
Could I have an earth-like planet from which sun and moon would never be simultaneously visible?
On earth there can be hours where the moon is up during the same time the sun is in the sky (daytime moon) due to the combined rotation of earth and orbit of the moon. I would like to have an earth-...
4
votes
1answer
326 views
How does the day/night cycle work on a non-tidally locked moon?
So to keep this simple, imagine a planet much like ours, orbiting a star. For the sake of this example, let's give the planet a 24 hour rotation, and a 364 day orbit around the star.
Now, this planet ...
9
votes
4answers
2k views
Tree growth rings without seasons
Tree growth rings are created because the time of day with sunlight differs throughout the year. How would the inside of a tree look, if it were to grow up on a planet without seasons, where day and ...
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vote
0answers
94 views
Night/Day Cycle Magic [closed]
How would a world evolve where magic users can either only use magic when the moon is up, or only when the sun is up. How would this effect where magic users live, and how would they interact with the ...
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votes
13answers
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Terminology for 24 hour wake-sleep cycle on world with longer dark-light cycle?
Take the Jovian moon Ganymede as a real-world example. It has an orbital period of ~7 days around Jupiter, which is effectively its day and its year simultaneously.
My characters will need the words ...
5
votes
1answer
171 views
What would the temperature variation be on this planet? (High eccentricity & slow rotation)
I've been trying to figure out a model (or find a relevant paper) for calculating the approximate day/night and periapsis/apoapsis temperature variation for an earth-like planet that has a high ...
7
votes
4answers
376 views
Spotlight distribution in a hollow earth?
I've been toying with a concept for a hollow/inner Earth universe in which I would like to achieve an even distribution of light. The pickle is that the "sun" of this world operates like a beacon/...
5
votes
1answer
111 views
Climate on a world with a Sun of varying luminosity
Given the daylight cycle discussed here (see the graph in the selected answer), suppose that the moon revolves in the equatorial plane, at a distance sufficient to light (barely) the poles, avoiding a ...
5
votes
3answers
501 views
Could I make this dark and eerie world possible?
The inspiration came from the music in the title sequence of the film Alien. The idea is a planet that humans have colonized where it's almost always drizzling slightly. It's always dark but there is ...
24
votes
16answers
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On a world where everyone is nomadic, how does civilization start?
As previously stated, I am constructing a world that has a day lasting nine years. The inhabitants must always be on the move in order to avoid the freezing wastelands of the night, but not so fast as ...
0
votes
2answers
232 views
How would society without a change in day or night form time, or structure to anything? [duplicate]
I'm working on a conceptual planet that is tidally locked to its star, and that there would be a ring or "twilight" zone of life on the planet. But because of this, there would be no sunset or sunrise....
1
vote
7answers
338 views
Feasibility and challenges of a kingdom existing within an eternal night?
Okay, so admittedly I was going for a title that was a bit more catchy than the actual question, but not by much. On a technical level, the real question is "Feasibility and challenges of why a large ...
10
votes
4answers
857 views
Would a species that migrates across the globe discover its roundness sooner?
I have a world with 9 year days. That is, the day-night cycle here lasts 9 years, where ours lasts a mere 24 hours.
Very similar to a tidally locked planet, except the habitable belt moves. The ...
3
votes
3answers
334 views
What is the optimal circadian rhythm?
We have 24 hour schedules because the earth rotates about once every 24 hours. But what if humans were on a planet that didn't have 24 hour days? Would their bodies adapt to stay awake for far longer ...
3
votes
2answers
477 views
Can a planet with a very long day/night harbor life such as Earth?
The year of this planet is 1,000 earth-days-long around its star, and its night lasts half a year.
Can it support life such as Earth?
With humans and lush forests and liquid water and good ...
