Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

vicethal t1_j3wpq7v wrote

Tidally locked sounds like it might have a ring of permanent twilight from pole to pole along the unmoving terminator line. It'd be a radically different climate, but no reason it couldn't have liquid water.

28

Raspberries-Are-Evil t1_j3wxca0 wrote

> but no reason it couldn't have liquid water.

Yea true. The other issue is radiation from the host star. But, underwater warm oceans with life? Id say very possible.

One good thing about Red Dwarfs is time. They are in the main sequence for 10s-100s of billions of years, a lot of time for evolution.

16

foofly t1_j3wz35l wrote

>Yea true. The other issue is radiation from the host star.

The article did mention that the star was particularly stable with no flares in the years that it was observed.

2

vicethal t1_j3wzro6 wrote

Is there any buildup to a solar flare, or is it just instant lethal radiation? Water's great shielding and aquatic life would still be able to turn amphibious, as long as dry land isn't certain death.

3

foofly t1_j3x1k69 wrote

They're known for being stable, but I'm not sure about how flares work.

2

Alias_The_J t1_j3y3pfe wrote

According to a recent study, red dwarf flares generally originate away from the equatorial plane, so the frequency of impact may be low on astronomic timescales.

3

pab_guy t1_j3xfvuc wrote

Convection between hot and cool zones has gotta make those regions a weather nightmare, no?

3

vicethal t1_j3xp1o8 wrote

Definitely. As a perk, it might mean easy wind power. As a drawback, it might make spacecraft design a lot more complicated (or maybe aerospaceplanes can ride thermals to the top of the atmosphere, I have no idea)

For life evolving there, I still like the idea of amphibians: if the winds come and go, they can colonize land gradually while using heavy, shielding water as shelter.

2

Professor226 t1_j3zxp2r wrote

No tidally locked means you need to pay a subscription fee to use the ocean.

3