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 | | From: | Mike Williams | | Subject: | Re: can a moon sustain life in a solar system? | | Date: | Mon, 24 Jan 2005 07:02:55 +0000 |
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 | Wasn't it jcamjr who wrote:
>An interesting side thought has to do with the viability of an earth
>type planet in orbit of a red dwarf for the planet to recieve enough
>energy for water to remain in a liquid state it would have to orbit so
>close to its star as to be tidaly locked with one side to the star and
>the other always in darkness this would be a poor place to hope to find
>a viable biosphere However what if instead this world was in fact a
>moon in orbit of a giant planet within the stars lifezone? this would
>seem to solve the tidal lock problem. Someone tell me what I'm missing
>here Im sure theres something wrong with this scenerio
I don't see any problem with life on a world tidally locked to a star.
The big problem with life around a red dwarf, however, is that the
habitable zone is very narrow. As the brightness of the star evolves,
the habitable zone moves closer to or further from the star and the
planet is left in an uninhabitable region. The habitable zone of our Sun
is wide enough that the Earth has remained inside the habitable zone
despite moderate changes in solar brightness.
--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure
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