Does “Twilight Life” rule the two-faced planet?

A completely different planetary “design” from Earth – an extreme “eyeball planet” – could still support life in unexpected ways.

According to Science Alert, a group of scientists led by geophysicist Ana Lobo from the University of California, Irvine (UCI – USA) sent what they called “eyeball planet” on the list of worlds that should be studied in depth in research “promised land” of life.

NASA telescopes have discovered about 5,300 exoplanets, which are planets belonging to other star systems. Understanding them all is a huge task, which is why scientists are still trying to find them. “filtered” suitable for determining which species have the greatest habitability.

“Eyeball Planet” that the research team mentioned is often considered difficult to get along with.

The graphic depicts an “eyeball planet” that resembles an eye

The graphic depicts an “eyeball planet” that resembles an eye, with a mostly frozen half day and half night but with an occasionally frozen belt at the half day border – (Photo: Ana Lobo)

They are two-sided planets, Half is always day, half is always nightbecause it is tidally locked with its parent star, the same way the Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, making us always see it from one side only.

The dayside is really difficult to live in because tidally locked planets are often close to the parent star, so this side will be a very hot “hell” world.

Research just published in The Astrophysical Journal points to a more promising place: Night face.

It must be a two-sided planet with lots of land, because if there is too much water, the amount of water evaporated from the daytime surface is enough to cover the planet in a sea of ​​clouds dense, causing a severe greenhouse effect. effect.

A two-sided terrestrial planet would have the conditions necessary for glaciers on the cold night side to melt during seasons when temperatures rise above freezing, creating a habitable belt in the Pacific Ocean. The nocturnal zone is adjacent to the limit of the daytime surface, the “twilight” zone of the planet.

Previously, many studies by Earth’s extremophiles have shown that many organisms can still survive without adequate factors such as mild temperatures, bright daylight, and rich food like ours. With some sunset light, a little water may be enough.

The research team also pointed out that the best two-sided exoplanets to study would be those orbiting red dwarfs, small dark stars much cooler than the Sun, keeping the planets close enough to be locked. it is burned by the parent star.

The cool little star that makes up its Goldilocks life zone is also closer to its parent star, so tidally locked planets can fall right in the middle of that star system’s life zone, similarly way that Earth is right in the middle of the life of the star system. The Sun (space region from Venus to Mars).

Article source: NLD