Timeline for Can there be plants on the dark side of a tidally locked world?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 3, 2019 at 20:26 | comment | added | T.E.D. | The preconditions of the question don't imply this answer. What if the whole planet is really hot (due to being close to the sun or somesuch), and the dark side is in fact the only side with a temperature low enough to allow plant life? | |
| Sep 2, 2019 at 16:57 | comment | added | rek | There are models of tidally locked worlds with large oceans and thick atmospheres supporting the idea of ice-free (or largely ice-free) antistellar surfaces; the larger/thicker the more heat will be transported and the farther the warming will extend. The dark side as a permanent icebox slowly locking away all moisture and freezing out the atmosphere is no longer a given. | |
| Sep 2, 2019 at 16:14 | comment | added | L.Dutch♦ | @MikeNichols and the condensed air on the cold side will magically melt again and go back to hot side, I guess... | |
| Sep 2, 2019 at 16:04 | comment | added | Mike Nichols | I'm talking about heat distribution via winds and currents from the light side to the dark side. The planet will be hottest in the middle of the light side and coldest in the middle of the dark side, but every temperature in between those extremes will exist at some band along the planet. Air will expand on the hot side and condense on the cold side driving massive winds that will redistribute the heat from the light side to the dark side and reduce the temperature differential. | |
| Sep 2, 2019 at 15:57 | comment | added | L.Dutch♦ | @MikeNichols, the lunar surface is at best at few hundreds degrees. That limits also the maximum temperature an object heated by that light can reach. | |
| Sep 2, 2019 at 15:47 | comment | added | Mike Nichols | How do you know that the dark side temperature will be low enough to preclude plant life? A tidally locked planet will have a very large temperature range assuming it has an atmosphere. Why couldn't there be a band that was habitable? | |
| Sep 2, 2019 at 15:27 | history | answered | L.Dutch♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |