All Questions
Tagged with planets habitability
129 questions
1
vote
2
answers
320
views
Is "quasi planet" habitable for life?
I was imaging a system which has a black hole, a star and Earth like planet. The star and planet orbits around the black hole, but the planet has same orbital period as the star, which is a "quasi ...
- 2,227
21
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Reality Check: Habitable moon around earth-like planet
For a complex world-building scenario I want a habitable moon orbiting a habitable earth-like planet. The habitable moon should allow for flora, fauna and landscape as similar to earth as possible. ...
- 591
12
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Smallest planet that can maintain plate tectonics?
I was wondering what is the smallest a terrestrial planet can be and maintain plate tectonics and generate a magnetic field, atleast to Earth's current age?
- 2,319
2
votes
0
answers
158
views
Can a gas giant form in the Goldilocks zone and have habitable moons. And if it can how many of those moons could be habitable? [duplicate]
Humanity is about to leave our solar system for some reason and a gas giant with 60 moons has been spotted in the Goldilocks zone of a nearby solar system. They arrive there and it turns out, a space-...
user23560
12
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is it possible for life to exist on the core of a gas planet?
I was thinking of writing a story and had the idea of having a society exist on the core of a gas planet. The core would be similar to earth with a breathable atmosphere similar to ours above it but ...
John
8
votes
4
answers
590
views
Can this unique planet be colonized?
In the story I'm writing, a gas dwarf (named Eden) is discovered in a triple star system. Its atmosphere is mainly oxygen and water based, and its gravity is slightly higher than Earth's.
Unlike our ...
- 1,430
6
votes
1
answer
508
views
Could an impact crater make a world habitable?
For most of us, meteors are by far the ultimate planet killers. All it takes is one direct hit to suddenly wipe all life from the face of a world. But, rather than taking life away from a planet, what ...
- 1,430
6
votes
4
answers
919
views
Possibility of a terrestrial moon orbiting a Jovian planet for the setting of a fantasy world
I am currently creating a world for a series of fantasy short stories (and hopefully movies one day), and I need some help with the science. Ideally, I would like the story to take place on a moon ...
6
votes
4
answers
667
views
Is this planet possible in real life?
In the Halo series there's a habitable planet called Harvest with a diameter of 4,012 kilometres, and gravity 99% of Earth's, though the planet only has 9% of Earth's mass. If such a planet is ...
- 2,319
12
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Can a planet without one or more moons be habitable?
My titled question was, can a planet without one or more moons be habitable?
In more depth, how would that planet be affected overall, without the moon to affect the tides and without providing light ...
- 185
15
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How far could a planet be from its star and still be kept habitable by intense greenhouse gases?
Epimetheus is a planet with about three times the mass of Earth orbiting a sun-like star in the Andromeda galaxy. However, two major factors separate Epimetheus from Earth. First, it has a thick ...
- 46.5k
2
votes
2
answers
468
views
Minimum distance a planet can remain habitable from a sun-like star?
This one source is stating a desert planet the size of Earth could maintain habitability at 0.38 AU from a sun-like star, but I highly doubt this is possible. What are some factors that could make ...
- 2,319
1
vote
1
answer
450
views
What is the maximum distance a planet orbiting the sun could have liquid water on its surface?
Lets say there's a super earth orbiting the sun at 3.00 AU, how thick would its atmosphere have to be to trap enough heat to make the planet warm enough for liquid water to flow on its surface?
- 2,319
10
votes
3
answers
422
views
What would the effects be of two tidal locked planets have on each other's geography?
I've heard a lot of people say that having two tidally locked planets close together would have adverse affects on both planets. I have two tidally locked planets at a distance of 16,550 miles apart. ...
- 7,026
11
votes
6
answers
2k
views
How to make a rogue planet liveable?
Rogue planets are generally not to healthy for us humans to live on. No permanent source of heat or light means that generally they are a pretty cold place. Plenty of other problems arise too, but ...
- 3,317
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What Is The Minimum Size Of A Planet To Harbor Human Life?
What is the minimum size of a planet that could harbor human life? You get to decide what the atmosphere is, but I'm reasonably sure that O2, CO2, and H2O are necessary components of the atmosphere. ...
- 7,026
6
votes
2
answers
388
views
Is it in any way possible to make a habitable (or colonize-able) corkscrew planet?
Is there any way to make a planet with a corkscrew orbit (like this) that could host a sci-fi civilisation? It'd be amazing if there was a way to make life arise naturally, but colonize-able works ...
2
votes
2
answers
296
views
How much time would it take Mars to cool enough to be habitable by humans after a gigantic planetary impact?
Let's say humankind terraforms Mars aggressively, increasing the planet's mass (and gravity) to Earth-like levels and causes its core to produce a significant magnetosphere. For example, perhaps they ...
24
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Close the door on your way out - Life lit by a blue dwarf star
I'm seeking a hard science setting for a piece of xenofiction with a decidedly non-sciencey feel. That said, there is no magic or magic technology.
The idea is as follows:
A red dwarf star has a ...
- 4,198
3
votes
1
answer
126
views
Would vegetation-like decorations help to alleviate homesickness on a Lunar or Mars colony?
The sterile and unchanging landscape of the Martian global desert could become tiresome for any Martian colonialist. Terraforming has been proposed but seems undoable for a long time to come.
So what ...
- 197
11
votes
3
answers
716
views
Habitability of an icy volcano planet
Suppose we have a rocky planet (somewhere between Earth- and Super-Earth- sized) orbiting a star far enough away that it would be around Pluto's temperature if sunlight was the only heat source. If we ...
- 565
4
votes
5
answers
801
views
Can a planet with 2/3 Orbital eccentricity sustain life?
On a planet where it is Earth-like, the orbit around the sun is a bit longer than 1 Earth year, and the orbit is on 2/3 eccentricity, but where only the "2" part is inside the Goldilocks zone.
In ...
- 5,692
22
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Making a planet habitable for humanoids: The planet
The question:
What characteristics are necessary for a planet to be habitable for humans? What should the generic star and planet be like?
The life forms are human, so they
Need to have access to ...
- 102k
19
votes
4
answers
6k
views
How small could an Earth-like planet be while still realistically being able to sustain human life?
I'm thinking a planet orbiting a nearby star colonized by human settlers sometime in the not near, but not too distant future. How small could a planet be while still standing in as a relatively ...
- 413
19
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Making a planet habitable for humanoids: The star
The question:
What characteristics are necessary for a planet to be habitable for humans? What should the generic star and planet be like?
The life forms are human, so they
Need to have access to ...
- 102k
41
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Habitable moon of a gas giant: working out the sizes and distances
I am attempting to create fictional, stable P-Type binary system, featuring a gas giant in a stable orbit, with a habitable Earth-like moon. “Is a Jupiter-sized planet plausible in a habitable zone?” ...
- 1,518
25
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Can a gas giant have its own habitable zone?
Gas giants can generate heat via the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism. It's oft-repeated that Jupiter actually generates more heat internally via this method than it receives from the Sun. Scale this ...
- 2,205
14
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Is it possible that a gas giant of similar size to Jupiter could harbor life?
Say we had a planet which was a gas giant. Is it possible that at the core of the planet where meteors, asteroids, and comet debris had collected that there could be a layer of atmosphere similar to ...
- 612
21
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Is a Jupiter-sized planet plausible in a habitable zone?
We lived through loads of questions regarding aquatic races, so buckle up, I am going to gather some ideas around insectoids.
The homeworld and race
This race lives on a planet which has lower ...
- 45.5k