Article - A Planet Is Too Hot for Life, but Another May Be Just Right

Article - A Planet Is Too Hot for Life, but Another May Be Just Right

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/sc...html?ref=space...

The article reports that researchers think the recently hyped
goldilocks planet Gliese 581c may be too hot for life, but says there
is hope that simple life forms could exist on newly discovered and
possibly more hospitable Gliese 581d.

Searching, Jason H.
___________________________
http://setisociety.org

On Jun 17, 2:35 pm, "Jason H." wrote:
Article - A Planet Is Too Hot for Life, but Another May Be Just Right

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/sc...html?ref=space...

The article reports that researchers think the recently hyped
goldilocks planet Gliese 581c may be too hot for life, but says there
is hope that simple life forms could exist on newly discovered and
possibly more hospitable Gliese 581d.

The article notes that both planets are likely to be tidally locked,
and in the
opinion of most astronomers, this decreases the possibility that
complex
life forms might exist on Gliese 581d.

But perhaps one could adopt a contrarian view? A stable, narrow band
of
optimal temperature nestled between extreme temperature zones could
actually be more conducive to the formation of complex life than a
planet
whose temperature extremes are "evened-out" by rotation. We are
perhaps
too prejudiced in our views by present conditions existing on our own
Earth.

Remember that the evolution of complex life on Earth may have delayed
in
its formation by repeated episodes of Snowball Earth conditions of
global
scope, the last of which was followed a few million years later by the
Cambrian Explosion.

Catastrophic temperature changes of global scope could perhaps(?) not
occur on a tidally locked planet; at worst the zone of optimal
temperature
would shift somewhat.

Just a speculation, of course...

Jerry