MIT: Life on an Aquaplanet

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bystander
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MIT: Life on an Aquaplanet

Post by bystander » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:35 pm

Life on an Aquaplanet
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2014 Dec 17
Nearly 2,000 planets beyond our solar system have been identified to date. Whether any of these exoplanets are hospitable to life depends on a number of criteria. Among these, scientists have thought, is a planet’s obliquity — the angle of its axis relative to its orbit around a star.

Earth, for instance, has a relatively low obliquity, rotating around an axis that is nearly perpendicular to the plane of its orbit around the sun. Scientists suspect, however, that exoplanets may exhibit a host of obliquities, resembling anything from a vertical spinning top to a horizontal rotisserie. The more extreme the tilt, the less habitable a planet may be — or so the thinking has gone.

Now scientists at MIT have found that even a high-obliquity planet, with a nearly horizontal axis, could potentially support life, so long as the planet were completely covered by an ocean. In fact, even a shallow ocean, about 50 meters deep, would be enough to keep such a planet at relatively comfortable temperatures, averaging around 60 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. ...

Climate at high-obliquity - David Ferreira et al
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Re: MIT: Life on an Aquaplanet

Post by Nitpicker » Wed Dec 17, 2014 11:58 pm

What about an ocean planet dotted with small islands? Seafaring but otherwise land-dwelling lifeforms could conceivably survive with the right annual migration pattern.

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