Posted on 05/11/2010 4:53:41 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Recent work from the Lick-Carnegie team has found that the M-dwarf HIP 57050 is orbited by a Saturn-mass world with an orbital period of 41.4 days. What catches the eye about this exoplanet is its temperature, some 230 kelvin or -43 degrees Celsius, warm enough to place it in the habitable zone of the star. Based on our knowledge of the gas giants in our own Solar System, its a natural supposition that this is a world with moons, and if so, their location in the habitable zone draws inevitable comparisons with fictional worlds like Pandora.
(Excerpt) Read more at centauri-dreams.org ...
A habitable moon around a planet like that would create some interesting issues. Things like an entire world in the dark for a day every month. Seems like it would get very cold for a few hours before being exposed to the sun again.
I get dizzy on a merry-go-round. A 41 day year? I'll need a bigger barf bag.
/johnny
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
Recent work from the Lick-Carnegie team has found that the M-dwarf HIP 57050 is orbited by a Saturn-mass world with an orbital period of 41.4 days. What catches the eye about this exoplanet is its temperature, some 230 kelvin or -43 degrees Celsius, warm enough to place it in the habitable zone of the star. Based on our knowledge of the gas giants in our own Solar System, it's a natural supposition that this is a world with moons, and if so, their location in the habitable zone draws inevitable comparisons with fictional worlds like Pandora.
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
Or like our own planet 5000 years ago. All ancient religions were astral and the two chieftain gods of all of those systems were Jupiter and Saturn. Primitive people in our present world who were to set out to devise an astral religion from scratch would unerringly end up worshiping the sun and the moon...
not to be confused with a Tepid Kronos
If the moon had a large ocean or was mostly ocean and it was closer to the sun then the water could act to mediate the month of darkness.
Plus look at the moons of Jupiter, some make an orbit around Jupiter ever day and a half (io) and some take up to 7 days (Gandeymeade). So it would only make a night of 1 to 3 days.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.