Questions tagged [earth-like]

For questions regarding planets similar to Earth in most respects. This tag should be used when describing a planet that follows the rules of Earth with exceptions outlined in the question. Usually questions using this tag will be about the differences and the impacts of those differences.

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18 votes
6 answers
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How long would it take humans to notice a civilization on Venus?

Now I know this is a very weird and impossible question, there is clearly no civilization on Venus. But for the sake of the story I'm cooking up in my head, Venus remains habitable and develops life ...
Dono's user avatar
  • 181
2 votes
2 answers
283 views

How would sensible waste disposal be accomplished for terrestrial creatures in a primitive society? [closed]

Necessary context: Various real animals like birds, foxes and snakes plus fictitious ones like qilins/kirins, gryphons and gloomstalkers (raven-like birds with some minor serpent features) possessing ...
KeturiosBlue's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
108 views

What is the lowest reasonable density for a Super Earth with earthlike living conditions?

A large planet roughly 3-4 times the mass of Earth. Trying to keep Gravity between 0.75G-1.25G for Earth-like Conditions. I've looked into certain materials such as Silicon Carbide, which is ...
Spoon's user avatar
  • 43
1 vote
2 answers
198 views

Could humans live on a cylindrical celestial body?

Let's imagine a roughly (or perfectly?) cylindrical celestial body. Other than it's shape, everything about it astronomically (distance from sun, orbit shape, etc.) is the same as Earth. Is it ...
Mocascoolai's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
42 views

Can nature adapt to life without constant access to sunlight? [duplicate]

I create a world where the sun's rays no longer reach the planet, due to the clouds completely covering the sky. Nature must therefore adapt to life without constant access to photosynthesis. I haven'...
batatich's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
146 views

If Earth were located at 1.1 AU from the Sun, would this affect the two zenithal passage days in the Tropics?

I am designing calendrics for an Earth-like planet located 1.1 AU from a Sun-like star. On Earth, on April 30th and August 13th, the Sun appears to pass directly overhead between the Tropics of Cancer ...
JM Yaden's user avatar
  • 305
2 votes
1 answer
76 views

Feasibility of a moon-planet orbiting an F star [closed]

I'm building an earth-type planet with typically human-like people, but a few differences. The human's particular area won't have much in the way of seasons being a large equatorial island. I'm ...
RedFrog's user avatar
  • 21
6 votes
3 answers
283 views

What technologies would be useful to a society trying to attain elevation?

Setting This question is about a human culture, with conditions essentially the same as Earth's with technology roughly comparable to early middle ages. The climate is roughly Alpine, although the ...
Jamie Lear's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
138 views

In the rainshadow of an equatorial mountain, would savanna (Aw) or hot desert (Bwh) replace rainforest?

This is a map of the area in question (pink/brown = mountains, lime = savanna, and dark green = rainforest). The top line is the equator, and lines are 10° apart. Would the area in the upper area of ...
nearsighted's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
40 views

How could I make an earth sized planet with 3 moons work? [duplicate]

Im world building an earth sized planet with 3 moons. These three moons are symbolic in my world with many religions on this world celebrating the number 3 and saying the best things come in 3. I was ...
Tonythundergod's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
650 views

Do the mountains formed by a divergent boundary form on either coast of the resulting channel, or on the part that has not yet separated?

The lakes and the bay are formed by the rift where the right chunk is diverging away from the main plate. I've put mountains on the land part of the rift a la Ethiopia's Great Rift Valley, but should ...
SkyDivingTortoise's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
144 views

Environmental triggers for evolving broader visible spectrum

Taking some inspiration from the finding that a small proportion is able to perceive significantly more colors than the rest of the population, I would like to explore to what degree similar traits ...
Arash Howaida's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
415 views

How could an Earthlike planet have two moons, one similar to the Earth's moon and the other primarily composed of carbon? [closed]

I am building an Earthlike planet that possesses two moons, one similar to the Earth's in terms of chemical composition and one primarily composed of carbon. How could these two moons form? Which moon ...
Galactic's user avatar
  • 4,464
2 votes
1 answer
62 views

What stellar temperature, orbital distance, and eccentricity is needed to create an Earthlike orbital planet with a last glacial maximum climate?

I am creating an Earthlike planet with a year length of 515 Earth days and 9 Earth hours. I am aware that Kepler's third law of planetary motion states that warmer stars are needed for longer orbital ...
Galactic's user avatar
  • 4,464
3 votes
2 answers
183 views

How can I hide a flying city? [closed]

In my writings I've created an island I need to hide. The island itself is around 100-200 square miles in area and the island rests around 12,000 feet in the air and is surrounded by a mountain range ...
Pyroking's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
277 views

How early can some kind of nuclear reactor resonably be invented or stumbled upon?

The physics of this world work practically the same as our own. All these nuclear reactors need to do is make a somewhat usable amount of heat for power generation, possibly ship use. They have to be ...
OT-64 SKOT's user avatar
  • 3,832
8 votes
5 answers
4k views

Would My Planet’s Blue Sun Kill Earth-Life?

I’m creating an Earth-like world where the sun appears blue to people from the planet’s surface. I think I’ve narrowed down the cause of this effect to the presence of 1 micron particles in the ...
Kal Madda's user avatar
  • 1,851
4 votes
2 answers
344 views

Is there a general rule/formula for the length of an ice age?

Right now in our worldbuilding project, my friends and I are working on the history of the world with respect to evolution and tectonics. Recently (322 mya) I was pretty sure an ice age would be ...
nearsighted's user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
220 views

Would this atmosphere be habitable to humans?

I have been creating a world, but I'm not sure if the atmosphere would be breathable for humans. (I'm kind of worried about the xenon levels) The planet is made of 62% Nitrogen (N) 21% Oxygen (O2) 15....
Neil Iyer's user avatar
  • 945
5 votes
9 answers
2k views

Long distance travel by non-motorised rolling vehicles

Background I have lush fertile mountains separated by miles of flat, barren desert. Each mountain is home to a community. The distances between mountains vary from 2 - 20 miles. Every occupied ...
chasly - supports Monica's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
90 views

Can someone tell me what a world with a radius 1.2 times that of earth’s would be like? [closed]

I want to make a world larger than earth for a story I want to write. Please can someone tell me about the different characteristics a world with a 20% larger radius would have: How much gravity it ...
Rohan's user avatar
  • 21
10 votes
6 answers
3k views

How to safely contain dinosaurs in the early 1900s?

A nation has found a large island containing dinosaurs! Primarily those of the late Cretaceous. A nation willing to pour pretty much any amount of money into the project needs a way to safely contain ...
OT-64 SKOT's user avatar
  • 3,832
5 votes
1 answer
660 views

How long would it take to recreate the biosphere on a “dead Earth” planet?

So, one of my main settings involves humanity colonizing an Earth-like planet. The planet has all the abiotic features needed to support mankind (oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, magnetic field, 70% ...
Jordy the Cat's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
72 views

On an Earth-like planet, what geologic features would contain which important minerals (such as gold, iron, copper)? [closed]

I'm writing a book that's set on a planet very similar to earth, meaning it has all the same gravity, mineral compositions, and geologic features. With that in mind: What geological features are the ...
Curious Cuttlefish 's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
191 views

In a world where gravity pass from 1 G to 5 G in a cycle of 365 days, can planes fly all the time?

I am writing a book and I have this cenario. There is a planet where gravity pass from 1 G to 5 G in a cycle of 365 days. I know that humans can survive till 3-5G, but what about airplanes capability ...
Alessar's user avatar
  • 303
6 votes
3 answers
309 views

What sort of evolutionary possibilities are plausible for a human-like species orbiting a red dwarf star?

I'm working on a story which is sci-fi so soft you could spread it on a cracker, but I'd like something semi plausible. I'm very likely overthinking things to an extreme, but I'd like someone with ...
Callisto's user avatar
  • 515
7 votes
2 answers
428 views

Should my superhabitable planet have ice caps?

I'm designing an Earth-like planet and I'm concerned about whether or not it would have ice caps. Originally, I assumed it would be too warm, with a climate similar to Earth's during the Paleocene-...
Thoth's user avatar
  • 317
6 votes
2 answers
284 views

How eccentric can a planet’s orbit be before it is uninhabitable?

So, I am writing a list of criteria for wannabe terraformers so that they know at what point any of their pet projects can be considered truly habitable. This list covers everything from the necessary ...
user98816's user avatar
  • 8,459
3 votes
1 answer
233 views

What metal or mineral commonly found on Earth could be extremely rare on a different Earth-like planet?

I am writing a story where a secret organization in the present day controls a portal between Earth and a different Earth-like planet. The organization secretly ships resources between planets to make ...
Galactic's user avatar
  • 4,464
3 votes
2 answers
242 views

Seasons increasing and decreasing in length in a predictable cycle?

Could an Earth-like planet have a cycle of seasons changing length without changing the length of the year? Having long summers and short winters at the start of the cycle and shifting towards long ...
SeasonalProcession's user avatar
14 votes
13 answers
4k views

Under what conditions would a society be able to remain undetected in our current world?

So hypothetically, what would be the best "hiding" locations for societies/organizations that seek to avoid contact with the rest of humanity? In other words, where would be the best place (...
dreamforge's user avatar
  • 1,302
1 vote
1 answer
59 views

What planetary orbit and geology would speed up an ice age?

I have a first-contact scenario where I would like an ice age to be occurring rapidly. All the things that could change to make a fast ice age more credible: orbital period (403.42 local days), length ...
dsanford0's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
171 views

Which map-making software is best suited for my interests?

I'm interested in creating a map for a world I've been creating. I've done some research to determine which software would suit me best, and it came down to Inkarnate, Campaign Cartographer, and ...
zucculent's user avatar
  • 143
10 votes
8 answers
1k views

Retrofitting geocentrism - what replaces the star?

The goal is to devise a plausible geocentric system in appearance. However, for simplicity, we will need only to examine the one planet case. And more crucially, this one Earth-like body is to be the ...
Arash Howaida's user avatar
6 votes
6 answers
911 views

What would people living on rocky terrain with access to a river use as building materials?

I'm looking for architectural inspiration for a city I'm designing, and I wonder what kind of building material would be used by the inhabitants. They live at the foot of a mountain, relatively close ...
JasperMW's user avatar
  • 163
3 votes
6 answers
1k views

How would an alien race destroy all nuclear weapons on earth? [closed]

An alien race has decided that earth is the best place to recruit new soldiers and prepare for a war, and they want to eliminate all nuclear weapons (explosive ones, not dirty bombs) to prevent ...
Nepene Nep's user avatar
  • 37.4k
2 votes
0 answers
121 views

What would the climate of this map look like? [closed]

In this scenario, there is a binary star system comprised of one naturally-made star and another made by the hands of some mysterious hyperadvanced civilization. The latter is a white giant, an ...
JohnWDailey's user avatar
  • 14.5k
12 votes
2 answers
3k views

Could a binary star system support life?

If we take an earth-sized planet with similar atmosphere, and put it into a P-type binary orbit, could it sustain human life? For sake of clarity, assume both stars are G-type stars and the planet is ...
Blue Skin and Glowing Red Eyes's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
1k views

Detecting offworlders with cameras

There is an Earthlike planet inhabited by Earthlike lifeforms including beings that are human for all practical purposes. The primary visible human civilisation is roughly equivalent in technology to ...
KerrAvon2055's user avatar
  • 25.8k
2 votes
1 answer
74 views

How would the synodic period of Venus change if both Venus and Earth were moved equal distances away from the Sun? [closed]

Let us say that Earth and Venus are both moved 10 million additional miles from the sun. How would the synodic period of Venus appear to change for an observer on Earth? If 584 days is Venus' current ...
JM Yaden's user avatar
  • 305
1 vote
3 answers
314 views

Given that an ocean did not touch the ground, how would the way waves function change? [closed]

The Premise An earth-like world (gravity, 1 moon, distance from star) Oceans do not touch the ground (ignoring the how for this premise, but for consistency we'll say it's floating atop 1 km of air) ...
shootbuildthink's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
89 views

Environmental effects of a supervolcano eruption

Background: In this world, a massive volcanic eruption results in ash being spewed into the stratosphere of an earthlike planet, blocking out sunlight. The explosion is on a similar scale as the Toba ...
Juicetin's user avatar
  • 111
2 votes
1 answer
141 views

I have scrambled the earth’s landmasses to form the world of Htrea [closed]

There are still mountains in the same spots of their mother continents. Wind directions, orbit, and water temperatures are all exactly that of Earth’s (as well as planet size). The equator runs ...
Dominic J. Gomez's user avatar
12 votes
6 answers
3k views

How can I make an earthlike planet windier?

Imagine a planet like earth, but windier. Not pick-up-a-house-and-drop-it-on-a-witch windy; let's say just give-trees-a-hard-time windy. I'd like "high winds" (defined by the United States ...
RLoopy's user avatar
  • 980
2 votes
2 answers
178 views

What the minimum diameter/circumference a ringworld would have to have cycles of day and night and gravity Earth-like?

I wanted to know what the minimum diameter/circumference a ringworld would have to have cycles of day and night (24 hours complete) and gravity equal to Earth and what the speed of rotation.
Yorhan Vi's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
125 views

How do I determine the locations and strength of earthquakes using a fictional tectonic plate arrangement?

I've got a world that I made using a combination of star system and plate tectonics simulations via a variety of programs. I've used this to build plenty of overlays for my world map—plate boundaries, ...
Meep the Changeling's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
136 views

I'm not a biologist or an engineer. How do I design legs for a large animal that leaps very long distances?

For designing fictional animals, I'm trying to design one with four appendages that is meant to jump large distances vertically and length-wise and is as large or larger than a human, with hands or ...
StackQuest's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
69 views

I’m making this story that has a blown up planet, and I’m trying to have some animals and creatures that live here that have changed or been modified [closed]

So In this story the main planet has been blown up way before the point of the story taking place, and well I have most of the architecture down I’m stuck on coming up with creatures to inhabit it and ...
Trianus's user avatar
  • 21
3 votes
3 answers
147 views

Would tall arboreal humanoids make good swimmers?

These are tall, sapient great apes that primarily live in trees, but come down for occasional food or things that catch their interest on the ground. By tall, I mean 6-7 feet on average, but because ...
sparkle's user avatar
  • 31
4 votes
5 answers
246 views

Could giants fit into a forest?

In my fantasy world, the forests are massive, reaching for miles and miles over the country, full of amazing creatures and just wonderful things. The thing is, I want my world to be relatively young, ...
March Hare's user avatar

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