zompist bboard

What is the axis tilt of Almea? This would control seasons. Slight or no axial tilt and no seasons and you get a uniform climate yearound everywhere on the planet, but if the tilt is big then the temperate zones would be very big and the climate high variable throughout the year.

I've never set a particular value; the temperate zones have definite seasons, though, so it's not that far from earth's.

Earth's axial tilt is one of the many very lucky factors that have made Earth habitable and condusive to intelligent life. If I remember correctly, Earth's tilt is caused by the moon (I could be mistaken, however). The moon is very important. So is our distance from the sun: Venus probably once had Earthlike conditions, but it's a lot closer to the sun, and as the sun is increasing in luminosity, Venus was basically scorched with the runaway greenhouse effect, and now it's 900 degrees on the surface and totally unlivable. We can expect the same thing to happen to Earth in about a billion years. Hopefully we will have figured out how to escape by then.

GreenBowTie wrote:Earth's axial tilt is one of the many very lucky factors that have made Earth habitable and condusive to intelligent life. If I remember correctly, Earth's tilt is caused by the moon (I could be mistaken, however).

Naw, it's just held relatively stable by the moon. Most planets have axial tilts.

And I wouldn't say it's necessary, it's just kinda nice. But then I'm very much not a "Rare Earth" proponent.

GreenBowTie wrote:Earth's axial tilt is one of the many very lucky factors that have made Earth habitable and condusive to intelligent life. If I remember correctly, Earth's tilt is caused by the moon (I could be mistaken, however). The moon is very important. So is our distance from the sun: Venus probably once had Earthlike conditions, but it's a lot closer to the sun, and as the sun is increasing in luminosity, Venus was basically scorched with the runaway greenhouse effect, and now it's 900 degrees on the surface and totally unlivable. We can expect the same thing to happen to Earth in about a billion years. Hopefully we will have figured out how to escape by then.

In a billion years, every species currently existant on Earth--certainly mammalian ones, at least--will most likely be extinct, and there might not even be life on Earth in a million of something catestrophic enough happens.