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petcarcharodon Since: Sep, 2010
#1: Mar 28th 2011 at 11:30:33 PM

I'm working on a science fiction setting. Basically, this planet rotates at about 90 degrees, like Uranus. So there's a hot summer and a cold winter, each about half the year. All life on the planet uses long term suspended animation, frozen during the winter. Is there anything else I should be looking into about this?

Blurring One just might from one hill away to the regular Bigfoot jungle. Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
One just might
#2: Mar 29th 2011 at 1:49:44 AM

How long does this planet takes to revolve around its star?

edited 29th Mar '11 1:51:25 AM by Blurring

If a chicken crosses the road and nobody else is around to see it, does the road move beneath the chicken instead?
Takwin Polite smartass. from R'lyeh Since: Feb, 2010
Polite smartass.
#3: Mar 29th 2011 at 7:16:50 AM

How fast does your planet spin, and is there a sizable climate difference between day and night?

I've returned from the depths to continue politely irritating the good people of Tv Tropes.(◕‿◕✿)
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#4: Mar 29th 2011 at 7:29:23 AM

It wouldn't necessarily work out that all life needed to do that. In such a planet, near the equator would be a "goldilocks zone" of perpetual twilight, neither freezing cold nor burning hot. Of course, there'd be some nasty weather (the temperature differential between the summer and winter would be huge, which means really strong, virtually constant winds from the summer-side to the winter-side).

Also, if they're going into suspended animation due to the cold during winter, what do they do during the summer while they should be burning to death?

edited 29th Mar '11 7:29:37 AM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Yej (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
#5: Mar 29th 2011 at 8:53:20 AM

Wait, does this planet spin on its own axis at all?

petcarcharodon Since: Sep, 2010
#6: Mar 29th 2011 at 10:00:11 AM

^Erm, yes?

^^Well, I guess some species would continuously migrate in that area. I didn't think about the hottest part of the summer. Perhaps they burrow underground, or something.

^^^There's not really any difference, given you'll be at almost the exact same distance from the sun. It completes it's rotation in a little over 80 hours.

^^^^The star is a main sequence, a little bit bigger than our sun. The orbit is about between where Earth and Mars would be, closer to Mars. So a little over 500 days.

I was originally going to put it around a red dwarf, but then I realized that would make it tidal locked.

edited 29th Mar '11 10:02:22 AM by petcarcharodon

Blurring One just might from one hill away to the regular Bigfoot jungle. Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
One just might
#7: Mar 29th 2011 at 10:04:59 AM

Like Native Jovian said, the tropic is a better place to be. Some part of the year you could get nice sunny days and cool nights. The organisms there could have two cycles each year between solstices.

edited 29th Mar '11 7:17:21 PM by Blurring

If a chicken crosses the road and nobody else is around to see it, does the road move beneath the chicken instead?
petcarcharodon Since: Sep, 2010
#8: Mar 29th 2011 at 12:52:58 PM

So pretty much, in summer and winter, about half the planet is frozen in constant darkness, and the other half is a searing desert where the sun never sets, with a twilit rim of mild temperature and horrendous weather. In spring and autumn, the whole planet is relatively stable.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#9: Mar 29th 2011 at 1:08:24 PM

In spring and autumn, the whole planet is like the equator; reasonable temperature, but terrible weather.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
petcarcharodon Since: Sep, 2010
#10: Mar 29th 2011 at 1:11:25 PM

So I'm guessing all of the plants would be low to the ground, so they don't get ripped up in the constant storm. No trees.

Yej (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
#11: Mar 29th 2011 at 1:22:18 PM

If the planet is spinning, it wouldn't be have a half-yearly summer. You'd have a quarter or so of the year where the day is quite normal, but two opposite quarters would have a quarter-year day on either pole, with pretty much no light getting to the equator. (equator relative to axis of rotation, which was mentioned to be parallel to the orbital plane.)

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#12: Mar 29th 2011 at 1:26:42 PM

[up]What? If you have extreme axial tilt, then you end up with really extreme seasons, because your arctic circle (the point where the sun never rises during the winter and never sets during the summer) is effectively the entire hemisphere. It'd be sort of like a tidally locked planet (with a permanent "day side" and "night side"), except that the sides switch once a year.

The fact that it rotates around its own axis as well (giving it a day/night cycle in addition to the seasonal cycle) doesn't actually affect a whole lot, except at the equator, where you'd have a somewhat-normal day/night cycle at some times of the year.

The details depend on the exact degree of tilt.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
petcarcharodon Since: Sep, 2010
#13: Mar 29th 2011 at 1:45:41 PM

I'm working on another world in the same setting. Basically, it has sessile silicon-based life that has covered the planet, so the entire world looks like it's covered in crystals. What kind of climate should I use for this?

Blurring One just might from one hill away to the regular Bigfoot jungle. Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
One just might
#14: Mar 29th 2011 at 7:27:25 PM

During the equinoxes or shortly after, both poles' temperature should equalise and the tropics might have better weather.

If a chicken crosses the road and nobody else is around to see it, does the road move beneath the chicken instead?
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