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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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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2answers
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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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1answer
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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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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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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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8answers
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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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2answers
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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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5answers
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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
103 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
175 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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2answers
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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
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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
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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: ...
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4answers
757 views
Is there a habitability zone between the primary and secondary stars of a binary star system?
Is there a habitability zone between the primary and secondary stars in a binary star system for a planet orbiting only the primary star at a distance less than that of the secondary star and, if so, ...
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2answers
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Winds on a tidally locked moon of a gas giant
My idea has been a colonized planet or moon with incredibly strong winds so that life is only possible in deep valleys protected from the wind. I recognize that wind is primarily driven by ...
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1answer
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What would've had to change in the early solar system for Mars to remain habitable?
Mars is the dusty, airless void of death and general unpleasantness it is today because it lost its magnetosphere millions of years ago. This was because Mars's dynamo in its core shut down. Because ...
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How Many Stable Orbits Could Fit In The Goldilocks Zone? [duplicate]
Scientists aren't really sure of the exact size of the "goldilocks zone" for the sun, where the light said star puts out allows liquid surface water to exist with an atmosphere, but some estimates put ...
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2answers
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Habitable planet in a multistar system
I'm trying to design a world in the Alcyone A system of the Pleiades.
Alcyone A consists of three stars. The main star is 3.4-3.8 solar masses.
There is a very low mass star < 15 million miles ...
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1answer
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Is my habitable system possible? [duplicate]
I have a star system of large red dwarf around 50% of sun's mass, which has gas giant or ice giant orbiting in the habitable zone. The gas(ice) giant has terrestrial like moon which is habitable. That ...
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2answers
198 views
Habitability of a world inside a dark nebula
For your consideration, a star system inside a dark nebula with a potentially habitable planet. Being a dark nebula, we Earthers can't see light shining behind the nebula. Further and therefore:
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1answer
166 views
How would a colliding binary affect its planetary system?
The scenario is based on the fact that a tight binary of two neutron stars does not hold for long: The two bodies lose energy in the form of gravitational waves and they spiral towards each other and ...
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2answers
365 views
What are the conditions of an Earth-like, water-ball planet?
I'd like to explore some details on a so-called water-ball planet (i.e. a planet in the habitable zone of a sun, covered by a 100 km deep ocean). I am particularly interested where life could develop ...
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3answers
383 views
Life on a rogue planet
I am imagining a special ecosystem on a rogue planet (a planet that wanders throughout space without orbiting a star or other heavenly object) but I would need your help to fill in the gaps and ...
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Fantasy map that has minimal land at the equator. What does this mean for rainforests and the world as a whole?
I created a fantasy map a while back, but only recently have I realised it may have a major problem. There is next to no land at the equator although some land between 0-30 degrees. The vast majority ...
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2answers
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Binary Stars with planets in P-Type orbits
For a gas giant to have a habitable Earth-like moon, in a P-type circumbinary orbit with the stellar classes of the 2 stars being A7 type III and F2 type IV separated by a distance of 2AU to 3AU, what ...
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2answers
871 views
How long would it take for the effects of a nuclear weapon to wear off?
I would like to know how long it would take for the plant life in an area to recover from an explosion from a nuclear bomb exploding.
Parameters for questions:
The bomb is a 100 megaton nuclear ...
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1answer
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Habitable planet around a binary brown and white dwarf system
Brown and white dwarf stars are thought to have habitable zones but are very close orbits. Plus these planets will experience strong tidal forces and be tidally locked. But if you have a large Earth,...
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2answers
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Is this habitable moon possible?
I've already asked a similar question but i'd like more details.
This moon would be orbiting around a saturn like planet without rings.
The host planet would be located in the habitable zone, ...
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3answers
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Is it possible to have a non tidally locked moon?
Fo my question, I'd like the moon to orbit around a saturn-like planet without rings.
This moon would be located at a million kilometers away the host planet.
the moon's size would be about 12 000 ...
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4answers
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Is a 1:1 Earth possible in a binary system?
I'm trying to build as close to a 1:1 Earth as possible, but finding information on a non-jovian moon-based planet is extremely hard to find. I tend to ramble trying to explain things in a non-list ...
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What can temporarily disrupt Earth's magnetosphere?
I'm trying to find some type of space weather or other natural occurrences that would result in the intensity of Earth's magnetic field dropping for a few hours to maybe a week or two at most. ...
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4answers
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How would a neutron star affect the habitability of planets orbiting a companion star?
A star system consisting of two stars forms, with one being more massive. As such, the larger star soon exhausts its fuel and ends up as a neutron star. The secondary star has a semi-major axis of 700 ...
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Please help me calculate acceptable planet sizes & eclipse shadows cast by my binary planet system
I've been reading here for a little while, but this is my first question. I am trying to come up with either a concrete set of numbers for a single answer for a binary planet system, or a simple ...
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Could humans colonize this planet?
Star A
Mass: 1.2 x Sol
Radius: 1.157 x Sol
Luminosity: 2.074 x Sol
Temperature: 6,444 K
Star B
Mass: 0.63 x Sol
Radius 0.691 x Sol
Luminosity: 0.158 x Sol
Temperature: 4,378 K
Semi-Major ...
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1answer
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Is it possible for a planet to become moon of a gas giant and sustain life as is? [duplicate]
I intend to base my story on a habitable earth-like planet, which faces major apocalypse that forces it to be a moon of super jupiter and tidally locks itself. If this is to happen, how would it be ...
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5answers
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Is this atmospheric composition breathable, and what would it look like?
I have developed a fictional planet with the following atmospheric composition;
60.4% Nitrogen
27.6% Oxygen
9.8% Xenon
1.5% Water Vapor
0.64% Argon
0.06% Carbon Dioxide
Is this breathable to humans ...
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2answers
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Could life exist in a universe, in which the roles of “stars” and interstellar space were reversed?
I was thinking of a universe, in which "stars" range in temperature from 5 degrees Kelvin to 10 degrees Kelvin, while gas in interstellar space has a temperature of 6000 degrees Kelvin.
Could life ...
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1answer
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How much mass does a human need to live a satisfying life?
Humans evolved in ancestral environments as semimigratory omnivores, which has embedded several things into our instinctive sense of wellness, aka "all is alright with the world", among them a ...
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What factors might create a habitable tidally locked desert planet around a G-type star? [closed]
This planet doesn't have to be habitable/comfortable for humans, however it must be able to possess limited surface water, so that it is habitable for carbon based life, the planet should occupy an ...
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3answers
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Planet Tidally-Locked to its star having eclipse day/night cycles?
I'm thinking of a planet with one side too hot, and one too cold due to always facing its star. With the planet having a small ring, a "twilight zone" which may be habitable, I was wondering if a moon ...
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1answer
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Could life develop in this ternary sytem?
Here is a link to an online animation of stars' movements in a trinary system.
Basically, the three stars are orbiting around a barycenter; one (yellow in the animation, mass = 1) closer to it and ...
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4answers
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What is the habitable zone around my star?
I have built a star that is loosely based on a real-world star. It has the following properties:
Spectral class G
Mass: 1.03 M$_\odot$
Radius: 1.02 r$_\odot$
Luminosity: 1.05 L$_\odot$
Surface ...
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1answer
358 views
Conditions for human life in a Jupiter-like system
I was wondering about a setting where a moon orbiting a gas giant can sustain human life on its surface, i.e. with nearly identical conditions compared to Earth (e.g. size, gravity, mean temperature, ...
