Extraterrestrial life can be found on hostile planets

Currently, the search for living beings beyond our planet is the goal of many astronomers and also one of the topics that generates the most curiosity. Now, a new study points out that perhaps extraterrestrial life can be found on immobile and extremely hostile planets, which have zones of eternal twilight.

Well, not exactly stationary planets, but ones that are so close to their stars that tidal locking “locks” them out. Instead of performing translational and rotational movements like the Earth, they only move around their star. So on one side it is always day and on the other it is always night. It may seem like an unlikely climate for life to exist, but it seems that this is not exactly the case.

“Blocked” planets could have life

The fact that a planet is stuck so close to its star makes the light side extremely dry and virtually impossible conditions for liquid water and life to exist. While on the other side it’s so cold that everything could freeze.

Most of the 5300 planets that have been discovered by mankind fall into this type of planet known as “eyeball” exoplanets. Which made them all but ignored on the subject of inhabiting extraterrestrial life.

Whenever a planet is said to be potentially habitable, some characteristics common to Earth are shared among them, such as the size, composition, and ideal distance from its star for liquid water to exist. However, the new study was published in The Astrophysics Journalpoints out that perhaps all these similarities to our planet are unnecessary.

Our current technologies make planets that complete their orbits in less than 100 days easier to find. This means it is closer to its star and likely subject to tidal locking.

Looking for life on planets like this one and orbiting stars like the Sun greatly decreases the chance of finding anything. However, most of the stars in the universe are smaller, cooler, and fainter red dwarfs. These features bring the star’s habitable zone closer and allow life to exist there, even if they are “stopped”.

zone terminator

On exoplanets affected by tidal locking, there is a thin zone of eternal twilight, where the day and night faces meet and which surrounds the entire planet. These regions known as terminators can host not only liquid water, but extraterrestrial life as well.

To determine whether these regions might be habitable, research lead geophysicist Ana Lobos and her colleagues used modified climate modeling software that is typically used for simulations using planet Earth.

We’re trying to draw attention to more water-limited planets, which while they don’t have widespread oceans, may have lakes or other smaller bodies of liquid water, and those climates could be very promising.

Ana Lobos, in response to Scientific alarm

planetary simulations

Simulations done by the researchers revealed that if the “eyeball” planets had a lot of water, such as oceans, especially when located on their illuminated side, starlight would likely vaporize all of it into the atmosphere. This would create a greenhouse effect and make the planet less habitable.

Even so, if the planet consists largely of land, the planet’s terminator may have a better chance of harboring life. The dark side glaciers could eventually melt and create a potentially habitable belt around the entire planet.

This finding goes against current searches for extraterrestrial life, which prioritize aquatic planets to look for signs of life. Another research published in 2013 in the same scientific journal had already suggested including eye planets in searches for aliens.

By exploring these exotic weather states, we increase our chances of finding and correctly identifying a habitable planet in the near future.

Ana Lobo

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Source: Olhar Digital