Science & Tech
Aliens could be hiding in 'terminator zones' on planets with eternal night
Alien life could thrive in terminator zones, the edges between the light and dark sides of planets that are tidally locked with their host stars.
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 their 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."
Read here:
https://www.space.com/aliens-could-be-hiding-in-terminator-zones-on-planets-with-eternal-night