Questions tagged [habitability]
For questions asking about the conditions which are required for the development of life as we know it.
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Earth Has Four Seasons Lasting Years. Is This Too Much?
In this alternate Earth, the axial tilt is still leaning to the extent of the temperate and polar zones having four seasons--spring, summer, autumn and winter. The one key difference is that each ...
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Algae using UV light from auroras for photosynthesis
I was reading some questions on Quora and I found this claim:
The polar regions have a very odd reason for them to have so much oxygen production. You see the Polar aurora run day and night in the ...
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Which Stars Would Best Suit For the Habitable Zone of The Nine Norse Earths?
In an alternate universe, the nine realms of Norse mythology--Midgard, Asgard, Vanaheimr, Jotunheimr, Alfheimr, Hel, Nidavellir, Niflheim and Museplheim--are actual, real-life "Earths", in the sense ...
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Rogue Planet Illuminated by Galactic Centre
The black hole question reminded me of an idea I wanted to implement at some point in a space campaign, but didn't go forward with because I was unsure whether it's merely statistically very ...
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Life around Cepheid Variable stars
Are there any unique challenges life would face evolving on a planet orbiting a Cepheid Variable star? I'm aware this is a broad question, so to narrow it down, consider this a question about Great ...
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A planet illuminated by a black hole?
Is it possible for a planet to be heated and illuminated by a black hole due to Hawking radiation at the same intensity as by a star?
What mass and size should a black hole have to produce the same ...
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Keeping an “hot eyeball planet” wet
Consider such a tidally locked planet:
Many issues with tidally locked worlds have been discussed, but I'm not clear on how the water cycle for an otherwise Earth-like tidally locked world, would be ...
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In Search of a Super-Bright, Super-Stable Star
Long ago, I asked a question on how to make possible turning the nine realms of Norse mythology--Midgard, Asgard, Vanaheimr, Jotunheimr, Alfheimr, Hel, Nidavellir, Niflheim and Museplheim--into nine ...
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''Habitable'' planet close to a star
Imagine if you will a star comparable with our sun and a planet like earth orbiting at roughly the same distance around this star as our earth around the sun.
Would it be possible to place a planet ...
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What is the theoretical maximum number of habitable planets in one solar system?
In the DC comic book universe, the Vega System is a solar system around the star Vega (Alpha Lyrae), which is depicted as having dozens of habitable planets. While it seems to be an implausibly large ...
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If Janus and Epimetheus had moons
Imagine a planet with two moons that have an orbital pattern similar to that of Janus and Epimetheus of Saturn...
Is there a way for one of these moons to keep a stable pair of Trojan sub moons?
I'm ...
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4answers
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Intelligent life wiped out in a binary system with a neutron star?
For the purposes of my story, I have created the following setting.
An Earth-like planet orbits a binary star system made up of a Sun-like star and a neutron star. For the majority of time (hundreds ...
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239 views
Super earth habitability
I'm trying to build a super Earth that's capable of sustaining human life for space exploration in a way that's close to reality. So far I'm lacking some understanding of planetary science and human ...
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4answers
665 views
Life on the Broken Ring - an issue of size
One of my ongoing projects is what I think of as the "constructed worlds gallery", a series of Megastructures as settings for stories and games, including things like the "Flying Pie-plate" a world ...
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What would the consequences be of a high number of solar systems being within close proximity to one another?
What would the consequences be of a high number of solar systems being within close proximity to one another? I'm mainly interested in the consequences for life on multiple planets. When I say 'close ...
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1answer
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Heating a gas giant's moons in a red dwarf system
Being new, this is my first question. I've read some other posts that gave me valuable insight, but I still have some questions.
First, some specifics:
Star: red dwarf. 80 x jupiter mass. 3 billion ...
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2answers
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How would a Type I civilization habitable planet be any different to a Type II civilization habitable planet?
This question is a different version of other questions that I have found here discussing a similar but different problem.
The problem I'm facing here is about the excess or waste heat that an ...
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1answer
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Can liquid water exist on the moons of this gas giant?
This is an edited hopefully more focused version of a question I asked a while ago. I made the mistake of asking too many questions the first time so I’ll try and be a bit more focused here.
I drew ...
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Atmosphere of habitable world around K-type star
I'm trying to work out the parameters of my planet, using the spreadsheets that Artifexian has developed (particularly this Planet Calculator and this Atmosphere Calculator) as a guide. In order for ...
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A pair of similar celestial bodies coming near each other
In my conworld I have two moons (they could be planets if desired as long as
they can stay 'close' to a larger nearby body) of habitable size. I want to
reality-check and provide an explanation for ...
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4answers
169 views
How far away from a Sol-class sun could a planet be and still be habitable?
In my galaxy, I need a planet that is far enough away from its star to be relatively cold compared to Earth, but not so cold that liquid water cold not exist.
The planet has 2 continents, 1 northern ...
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What would Define Ecosystems in a “Frozen Moon with Ocean” World
What factors would influence ecosystem development in an ocean on an ice world?
It is thought that several moons in our solar system (e.g. Europa) may have significant oceans under their icy crusts. ...
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1answer
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Determining Planet rotation period that would allow for global Wind Cell
I'm trying to figure out how quickly a planet could rotate while also having a single air flow cell, such as Hadley cells, that would circle from hot pole to cold pole, etc. as in the case of Tidally ...
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5answers
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How can this habitable planet have a moon with a naturally occurring atmosphere?
Assuming the planet is earth-like, with more surface water and atmospheric oxygen, and within the habitable zone of a sun-like star, how can a moon orbiting this planet retain a thick atmosphere?
The ...
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5answers
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If Earth's atmosphere were to be enclosed, what effects would what have?
A universe-destroying parasite is set loose, and basically earth is placed under magical quarantine. (Think of it like the world is wrapped in magical cellophane.) My question is, how would earth's ...
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What is the Habitable Zone of a Red Dwarf star?
This question is pretty straightforward:
What is the minimum and maximum distance for a planet to be in the habitable zone of an average sized (not biggest, not smallest) Red Dwarf star?
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How long would it take for an uninhabitable amount of pollution on a planet to disappear? [closed]
If the world (Earth) were to become so polluted that the surface would become uninhabitable, how long would it take to become as unpolluted as it was before humans?
By pollution I mainly mean ...
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2answers
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Time in relation to life in the Jovian System
I'd just like to preface this with the fact that I'm super new and I apologise if this has been discussed in some way previously (I have looked at similar topics but they haven't quite given me the ...
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2answers
287 views
Planet Orbiting a Red Dwarf
I'm trying to create my planet orbiting a red dwarf, honestly I've thought other scenarios but it's like every answer opens new questions. I'll just say what I want my planet to be and I'd like your ...
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4answers
282 views
Habitability of a planet with highly variable temperatures
The surface of the planet I have envisioned is almost entirely desert save for several city-sized "oases," or pockets of water, flora, and fauna that do not exist elsewhere. The temperature ...
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1answer
120 views
Can giant planets in the habitable zone have rocky moons?
My question is in the context of a fictional super-Neptune that lies in the habitable zone of its host star system.
Giant planets only form beyond the Frost Line of their protoplanetary disk, and ...
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Is a solar system around a black hole possible?
Is it possible for there to be a "solar system" of sorts with a black hole and a few suns orbiting around it?
Could that system be stable and (if so) would it be possible for some civilization(s) to ...
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Could a person safely walk around with exposed skin under the sunlight of a red dwarf when it's not flaring?
I've been thinking about a fantasy setting built around the idea of a habitable, tidally-locked world orbiting a red dwarf. Since it is fantasy I do have some leeway in terms of the real world ...
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1answer
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Life in a gas torus around a neutron star
Larry Niven wrote a novel called The Integral Trees, which was followed by a sequel The Smoke Ring. This is Wikipedia's synopsis of the setting:
The story occurs around the fictional neutron star ...
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How long does it take for islands to form after an underwater volcanic eruption?
So, vaguely, I remember from earth science that when submarine volcanoes erupt they eventually form archipelagos. My question actually has several parts;
Starting with the first eruption to break ...
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2answers
361 views
What kind of Gas Giant has a “safe zone” between the radiation from a star and the radiation from a gas giant planet?
This is a progression from my first question, here
(if this is too similar to my original question, please let me know of a better way to address this, as I am not getting the answers I need on that ...
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1answer
535 views
Can a habitable moon rely on the magnetosphere of its parent planet for radiation protection?
Science-based answers, please.
Key points:
the main concern is radiation protection for sustainability of human life (and accompanying plant and animal life ecosystems, whether earth-like or not). ...
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1answer
132 views
Increased Luminosity in Stars
I'm trying to construct a solar system, and I'm toying with the idea that the planet capable of sustaining life was initially outside of the habitable zone, but the star's advanced age has caused the ...
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2answers
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Effects of Hot Jupiters on habitable planets
Essentially, I'm designing a solar system for form of alien life. For the sake of ease, the star is roughly similar to the Sun, and the habitable planet follows an orbit anywhere between Earth and ...
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Where would space habitats get their oxygen from?
Suppose you want to build a large scale habitable structure in space or on a planet or moon without an atmosphere or any organics, and this would be a long term or permanent settlement, not a ...
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What is a usable formula for determining the necessary strength of a planet’s magnetic field for it to be habitable?
To my understanding, part of the reason life is able to exist on Earth besides its ozone layer is due to its magnetic field, which protects the planet and its life against solar winds and keeps the ...
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Should my Dyson Sphere be bigger? (Climate/habitable zone)
My world is a 1AU radius, 12000km thick Dyson Sphere with 6 equally spaced holes, 4 filled with water. The two main problems I have are gravity and heat. This question concerns heat and how to stop ...
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1answer
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What would the effects of extremely intense UV be on unprotected human settlers of a planet and what is the maximum level they could tolerate?
This question is kind of hard to explain succinctly, and I apologize for that.
Obviously, humans experience acute effects from UV light on Earth in a matter of minutes near the equator (UV index of ...
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1answer
125 views
How massive can a terrestrial planet be and still be habitable? Will its space civilization have problems due to its escape velocity? [duplicate]
The star is Sun-sized and my planet will be more massive than Earth.
How massive can my planet be and still be habitable. This is without its internal heat being a problem leading to its becoming a ...
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1answer
206 views
What would be the composition of a habitable gas giant
Lets imagine a gas giant called Eurus.
It would have a diameter a bit smaller than saturn, but a gravity weaker than earth (92% earth's gravity). It would also be located 15 000 000 km away from its ...
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How many habitable planets can I fit into the habitable zone of a Sun-like star and still be stable? [duplicate]
The habitable planets will be very similar in size to earth and are on separate orbits orbiting a Sun-like star exactly the size of our own Sun. How many habitable planets can I fit into the habitable ...
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How could I scientifically explain a world where the surface is made out of pillars?
Imagine a world full of islands. No continents, just average-sized islands. There are so many islands, that it would look a bit like this from space:
Now, imagine that the sea is very, very deep. I'm ...
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3answers
246 views
Dense atmosphere and survival?
How difficult would it be for a human to survive on a planet with an atmosphere 2-5 times as thick as Earth's but with gravity like Venus?
Would such an atmosphere be survivable? If yes, then how ...
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1answer
143 views
Brown Dwarf effects on a habitable exoplanet orbiting the same star
Suppose there’s a planet in the habitable zone of a class F star, a bit smaller than Earth and about the same density, with 80% of earth’s gravity. How far away from the planet would a brown dwarf ...
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1answer
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Would the following hypothetical planets in the 61 Cygni binary star system have stable orbits?
To clarify, I realised that I kind of ran into a problem trying to check the orbital stability of two fictional planets in orbit around the real life 61 Cygni binary star star system.
To explain: ...
