Quote:
Originally Posted by clint
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2) What about the very exotic conditions in that star system?
(from an earth perspective, of course - maybe it's actually OUR solar system which is strange)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that Super-earth is rotating way closer around its star than Mercury to the Sun, is that right?
And then there is a Neptune-like planet even closer???
WOW!!!!!! 
This constellation should cause some REALLY weird effects on the planet's surface! Any ideas?
- Probably huge tides (if it has oceans) and/or lots of vulcanic activity? (especially everytime its star and 'Neptune' line up)
- Plus extreme weather patterns, caused by the insanely short orbit around its star (maybe on a very eliptical path, too)?
- Lots of radiation because of the extreme proximity to its star?
- Would it be capable of holding any moons, with the gravitational disturbances of a Neptune-like planet that close? |
Sorry for quoting myself, but I feel we haven't really given this all the debate it deserves - so I'll make another try.
For me, the most fascinating thing about Gliese 581c (apart form potentially holding liquid water, of course)
is the mind-blowingly exotic conditions in that system.
(e.g. SEVERAL planets INSIDE Mercury's orbit )
And the fact that maybe THOSE are the 'normal' planetary systems, since brown dwarfs are so much more frequent than our type of star (Sun).
1) This really defies all our earlier conceptions about planetary systems, doesn't it? Does this maybe represent the typical solar system?
2) I'm trying to imagine how weird those conditions might actually 'feel' like on Gliese 581c (see my quote above). Any thoughts?