New Study Upends the Idea of ‘Habitable Zone’ Planets
A thought-provoking new study suggests that planets which scientists once considered to be ideal locations for alien life may not be so friendly after all.
Produced by a team of researchers at the University of California at Riverside and published today in an astrophysics journal, the project looked at planets said to reside in what astronomers call the ‘habitable zone.’
This designation, which is also colloquially called the ‘Goldilocks zone,’ means that the world is close enough to a star to possess liquid water and, ostensibly, some kind of lifeforms.
However, upon closer inspection, the researchers at UC Riverside determined that there are additional factors which must be taken into consideration when it comes to these planets, specifically toxic gasses. They explain that within the range of what would be considered the ‘habitable zone’ are a number of worlds in which possessing liquid water would require “tens of thousands of times more carbon dioxide than Earth has today” and, as such, complex creatures such as humans and animals could not survive there.
Remarkably, they say, “carbon dioxide toxicity” alone suggests that “less that one-third” of the once-promising habitable zone would actually contain worlds that were fit for humans and complex creatures. Beyond that, the researchers noted that excess levels carbon monoxide would be another significant factor which seemingly eliminates two recently-heralded exoplanets, Trappist-1and Proxima b, which were said to reside in the Goldilocks range and are a fairly close distance away from the Earth.
While the findings of the study are undoubtedly disappointing to those hoping for the eventual discovery of alien life somewhere out there in the cosmos, the paper comes with something of a silver lining.
That’s because the research will presumably allow for astronomers to narrow down the number of possible planets out there which can contain life beyond simply those that can sustain liquid water. So, in that sense, the conclusions from the paper could serve as a metal detector, so to speak, when it comes to locating the proverbial needle in a haystack that is a planet boasting life.
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FauxScienceSlayer
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The Earth and Moon receive the exact same amount of solar radiation, Moon temperatures range from 40°K to 390°K, while Earth’s range from 184°K to 218°K. It is Earth’s internal fission that keeps our planet 144°K warmer and it is water, clouds and ice reflecting sunlight, along with delayed heat loss from atmospheric insulation that keeps Earth 172°K cooler than the Moon. It is Earth’s internal fission that produces the solar wind and gamma ray protection, and it is volcanism that constantly replenishes the ocean water and our atmosphere. It is Earth’s rapid rotation that provides live giving sunlight and prevents greater nocturnal heat loss.
Goldilocks is a one in a million condition, within limited orbital distance.
“Greenhouse Gas Ptolemaic Model” > FauxScienceSlayer
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tom0mason
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How little these academics understand life!
A certain planet that is in the ‘Goldilocks zone’ with liquid water and very high CO2 in it’s atmosphere slowly changed into the Earth we have now (see https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/030918092804.htm).
Life is all about taking solar radiation and the chemicals that are abundant and, for a finite period, working against the forces of entropy to forge new chemical structures and compounds that support life better. Life takes the common and abundant chemicals mixes it with dilute solar energy to form new compounds that usually have less volume and more chemically concentrated energy. From carbon dioxide, water, and a few minerals we have plants. From plants we get oxygen and high energy plant matter. Eventually entropy will win the day, as the sun dies away and this planet decomposes to it elements again. But that eventually appears to be a long way off.
However there appears to be a credible argument that without an overlarge moon, like we have causing tidal movement, life would take a much longer time to appear.
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Charles Higley
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It’s fascinating that they focus on CO2 toxicity, when it is the conversion of this to oxygen gas that enables all other higher life forms. How myopic of them to see the source of life as we know it to be toxic. Wow.
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