Could Aliens Shelter In 'Terminator Zones'
Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2023 10:01 pm
What is a 'terminator zone' and why might aliens find a place to live there?
As it turns out, this idea has a long history in science fiction.
Imagine if one side of the Earth always faced the sun. Half of the planet would be stuck in perpetual daylight, the other shrouded in permanent night.
But for aliens in other solar systems, our doomsday scenario may be there everyday — and life might get along just fine. In a new study, astronomers propose that extraterrestrial life could exist in so-called terminator zones, the border between light and dark halves of an exoplanet.
"These planets have a permanent day side and a permanent night side," Ana Lobo, an astrophysicist at University of California, Irvine (UCI) and lead author of the new work, said in a statement(opens in new tab). "This is a planet where the dayside can be scorching hot, well beyond habitability, and the night side is going to be freezing, potentially covered in ice. You could have large glaciers on the night side."
(Via Space.com)
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-F ... wsNum=6345
As it turns out, this idea has a long history in science fiction.
Imagine if one side of the Earth always faced the sun. Half of the planet would be stuck in perpetual daylight, the other shrouded in permanent night.
But for aliens in other solar systems, our doomsday scenario may be there everyday — and life might get along just fine. In a new study, astronomers propose that extraterrestrial life could exist in so-called terminator zones, the border between light and dark halves of an exoplanet.
"These planets have a permanent day side and a permanent night side," Ana Lobo, an astrophysicist at University of California, Irvine (UCI) and lead author of the new work, said in a statement(opens in new tab). "This is a planet where the dayside can be scorching hot, well beyond habitability, and the night side is going to be freezing, potentially covered in ice. You could have large glaciers on the night side."
(Via Space.com)
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-F ... wsNum=6345