tidally locked Archives

Temporal medians of ’Extreme’, ’Moderate’, and ’Quiescent’ simulations for Temperature (T in K). Medians are taken from 8 years and for (a) 1.223 × 10−5 mbar and (b) 0.008 mbar atmospheric levels. Extreme and Moderate medians are only taken for days when flares occur. Stippling uses a two-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test to represent ’Extreme’ and ’Moderate’ areas that are not statistically different from the ’Quiescent’ one at p

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report, Stellar Cartography, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Effects of Transient Stellar Emissions On Planetary Climates Of Tidally-locked Exo-earths

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2025May 7, 2025

Space weather events in planetary environments sourced from transient host star emissions, including stellar flares, coronal mass ejections, and stellar proton events, can substantially influence an exoplanet’s climate and atmospheric […]

Beating planets mimic synchronous circulation patterns despite being asynchronous and show long-term variability. a. Height map of an Earth-like asynchronous planet when subjected to time-varying instellation of period same as that of rotation (= 1 day). Note that the fixing of the hotspot to the planet-frame-of-reference makes it similar to the tidally synchronous case in Fig. 2 (top). The colorbar used is the same as above. b1-b3. Motion of substellar point (green) and the corresponding hotspot (black) for ω = 2π/(1, 1.01, and 0.99) days−1 , respectively. When instellation is constant the hotspot simply lags the substellar point as in Fig. 2 (bottom). However, due to varying instellation, here we observe a fixed, an eastward, and a westward creeping hotspot, respectively, for the same remaining parameters. Note that the large oscillations between 0◦ and 360◦ in b2-b3 occur because 0◦ and 360◦ are effectively the same longitudes on a spherical planet. -- astro-ph.EP

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Planetary Rhythms: Synchronous Circulation On Variably Irradiated Asynchronous Planets

by Keith CowingJanuary 18, 2025January 18, 2025

Tidal locking of planets to their host stars results in an atmospheric circulation with a hotspot fixed to the frame of reference of the planet. On the other hand, asynchronously […]

Ariel, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Miranda, Oberon, Press Release, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Uranus’ Swaying Moons Will Help Spacecraft Seek Out Hidden Oceans

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024May 12, 2025

When NASA’s Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, it captured grainy photographs of large ice-covered moons. Now nearly 40 years later, NASA plans to send another spacecraft to Uranus, […]

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Impact events, Press Release

The Response of Planetary Atmospheres to the Impact of Icy Comets I: Tidally-Locked exo-Earths

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024November 29, 2024

Impacts by rocky and icy bodies are thought to have played a key role in shaping the composition of solar system objects, including the Earth’s habitability. Hence, it is likely […]

LEFT: Instantaneous surface temperature for Proxima Centauri b in a 3:2 SOR for (a) the substellar point at 0◦ longitude and (b) the substellar point at 180◦ longitude. The horizontal wind vectors are again shown at P≈250 hPa. RIGHT Instantaneous vertically integrated ozone column density for Proxima Centauri b in a 3:2 SOR for (a) daytime on the 0◦ hemisphere and (b) daytime on the 180◦ hemisphere. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, Status Report

Earth-like Exoplanets In Spin-orbit Resonances: Climate Dynamics, 3D Atmospheric Chemistry, and Observational Signatures

by Keith CowingOctober 29, 2024October 29, 2024

Terrestrial exoplanets around M- and K-type stars are important targets for atmospheric characterisation. Such planets are likely tidally locked with the order of spin-orbit resonances (SORs) depending on eccentricity. We […]

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

Surprising Spin-orbit Resonances of Rocky Planets

by Keith CowingOctober 10, 2024October 10, 2024

Recent works suggest that, in multiplanetary systems, a close-in exoplanet can sometimes avoid becoming tidally locked to its host star if it is captured into a secular spin-orbit resonance with […]

Artist's illustration of the exoplanet WASP-107b based on transit observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope as well as other space- and ground-based telescopes. Credit: Rachel Amaro/University of Arizona

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Astronomers Catch A Glimpse Of A Uniquely Inflated And Asymmetric Exoplanet

by Keith CowingSeptember 25, 2024September 25, 2024

Astronomers from the University of Arizona, along with an international group of researchers, observed the atmosphere of a hot and uniquely inflated exoplanet using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The […]

Zonally and temporally averaged zonal wind profiles for both our model with the sub-stellar point placed over the ocean (SSPO - left) and sub-stellar point placed over land/Africa (SSPL - right). Here eastwards winds are shown in shades of blue whilst westwards winds are shown in shades of red. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

How Land-Mass Distribution Influences the Atmospheric Dynamics of Tidally Locked Terrestrial Exoplanets

by Keith CowingJuly 14, 2024July 7, 2024

Interpretation of the ongoing efforts to simulate the atmospheres of potentially-habitable terrestrial exoplanets requires that we understand the underlying dynamics and chemistry of such objects to a much greater degree […]

Horizontal slices of the O3 number density for our TRAPPIST-1e model at a pressure (altitude) of a) 103 hPa (∼15 km) and b) 609 hPa (∼5 km). The substellar point is at 180° longitude and 0° latitude. N represents the North pole and S represents the South pole. Lower panels show the polar projections. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1

Asymmetries In The Simulated Ozone Distribution On TRAPPIST-1e Due To Orography

by Keith CowingJuly 6, 2024July 6, 2024

TRAPPIST-1e is a tidally locked rocky exoplanet orbiting the habitable zone of an M dwarf star. Upcoming observations are expected to reveal new rocky exoplanets and their atmospheres around M […]

Estimated rotation regimes inside the habitable zone of white dwarfs with different stellar temperatures, as a function of relative stellar flux. Colors denote different rotation regimes. Black solid line shows the inner edge of the habitable zone (RGHL, Section 4); black dashed line shows the outer edge of the habitable zone (Maximum Greenhouse Limit from Kopparapu et al. 2013); and white dotted line shows the tidal disruption limit. The stellar mass of the white dwarf is fixed at 0.6 M⊙. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Novel Atmospheric Dynamics Shape Inner Edge of Habitable Zone Around White Dwarfs

by Keith CowingJune 6, 2024June 6, 2024

White dwarfs offer a unique opportunity to search nearby stellar systems for signs of life, but the habitable zone around these stars is still poorly understood. Since white dwarfs are […]

tidally locked

Effects of Transient Stellar Emissions On Planetary Climates Of Tidally-locked Exo-earths

Planetary Rhythms: Synchronous Circulation On Variably Irradiated Asynchronous Planets

Uranus’ Swaying Moons Will Help Spacecraft Seek Out Hidden Oceans

The Response of Planetary Atmospheres to the Impact of Icy Comets I: Tidally-Locked exo-Earths

Earth-like Exoplanets In Spin-orbit Resonances: Climate Dynamics, 3D Atmospheric Chemistry, and Observational Signatures

Surprising Spin-orbit Resonances of Rocky Planets

Astronomers Catch A Glimpse Of A Uniquely Inflated And Asymmetric Exoplanet

How Land-Mass Distribution Influences the Atmospheric Dynamics of Tidally Locked Terrestrial Exoplanets

Asymmetries In The Simulated Ozone Distribution On TRAPPIST-1e Due To Orography

Novel Atmospheric Dynamics Shape Inner Edge of Habitable Zone Around White Dwarfs

Tricorder Tech: New Handheld Device Maps Chemical Composition Using Infrared Light

No Statistically Significant Evidence For A Correlation Between Stellar And planetary Composition

Water Planet Recon: How Accurately Can We Measure Earth Ocean’s Deepest Point?

Webb Reveals A Stunning Panorama Of Star Formation

Deep Learning of SHERLOC Raman Spectra For Facilitating Mars Astromaterial Identification