Yale University | 2016 Aug 19
The search for habitable, alien worlds needs to make room for a second “Goldilocks,” according to a Yale University researcher.
For decades, it has been thought that the key factor in determining whether a planet can support life was its distance from its sun. In our solar system, for instance, Venus is too close to the sun and Mars is too far, but Earth is just right. That distance is what scientists refer to as the “habitable zone,” or the “Goldilocks zone.”
It also was thought that planets were able to self-regulate their internal temperature via mantle convection — the underground shifting of rocks caused by internal heating and cooling. A planet might start out too cold or too hot, but it would eventually settle into the right temperature.
A new study, appearing in the journal Science Advances on Aug. 19, suggests that simply being in the habitable zone isn’t sufficient to support life. A planet also must start with an internal temperature that is just right. ...
Can mantle convection be self-regulated? - Jun Korenaga
- Science Advances 2(8):e1601168 (19 Aug 2016) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1601168