Waspie_Dwarf Posted March 11, 2014 #1 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Lobster-Shaped Extrasolar Oceans Alien planets circling the most common stars in the universe may often have strange lobster-shaped oceans on their surfaces, researchers in China now say.These findings suggest the habitable zones where life as we know it might dwell around these stars is smaller than previously thought, scientists added. Read more... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Zim Posted March 13, 2014 #2 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Interesting but the tectonics of the planet (if not entirely an ocean planet) will also have a huge effect on the climate. That is the key driver of habitability when you look at ticking the other habitability boxes... a tidally locked planet will likely have the lighter continents drawn to the centre of the day side due to both higher volcanic plume activity from tidal effects plus tidal effect exerting a natural pull on the continents over megayears, which are really like oil slicks on water in geological timescales. So instead of a hot, boiling ocean there would be a large central continent under the star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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