EarthSolar t1_j8v5wkc wrote on February 17, 2023 at 4:12 AM

Reply to comment by Lampposthead2526 in If someone were to hypothetically put a sun next to ours as a binary system, would this increase the length of the habitable zone radius of the system? by Country_Royal

please don’t try to get yourself a personal magnetosphere. It’s not worth it.

Jokes aside, I believe we’re not really sure how and why intrinsic magnetospheres show up on Earth and Mercury but not Venus and Mars (which have induced ones which block solar wind better instead). Mercury, Earth, and Ma rs are all known to have liquid core, but it seems Mars’ core isn’t convecting and thus no dynamo.

YesWeHaveNoTomatoes t1_j8v7kyx wrote on February 17, 2023 at 4:27 AM

My understanding is that the problem for Mars and Mercury was that they aren't massive enough to keep their cores hot, so as the cores cooled their planetary dynamos slowed and the magnetospheres dissipated.

EarthSolar t1_j8vxf6s wrote on February 17, 2023 at 9:32 AM

Mercury is known to have a magnetosphere (albeit a weak one). by the way.

Lampposthead2526 t1_j8v8ued wrote on February 17, 2023 at 4:39 AM

I don’t have much to say but I like your comment. I didn’t know Mercury has, maybe in some part, a liquid core. Been writing some stuff about Mercury as usual. I found it fascinating in a sense for storytelling wise, a leftover planet. Anyways writing is a whole other tangent lol. Mercury mining while being landlocked by Venus due to technology not advanced enough to drive past planets. I need more world building lol.

EarthSolar t1_j8vxjz2 wrote on February 17, 2023 at 9:34 AM

It's a little funny to hear Mercury mining now that I know it's weirdly iron-poor on the surface. Despite having the highest core fraction, its surface is really lacking in that stuff. I wonder what resources can be found on the Mercurian surface - I recall carbon is one, but not sure about other stuff aside from the usual silicates.