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Life on a Rogue Planet; How would it work?
Topic Started: Feb 14 2009, 06:33 PM (628 Views)
Rodge the Linkbot
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I was reminded of this thought by the alien plant thread. I got to wondering a while back how life on a Rogue Planet could function without a sun?

I'm imagining a large terrestrial planet, at least Earth's size, with a proportionatly large moon. Maybe even a compound planet. That could give a few energy options, geothermal energy or maybe directly gravitational energy to feed the base of the food web. How else could life here 'fuel-up'? Would Melanin-based photosynthesis work to fuel the plants?

Then comes biochemistry, on any planet of that mass plasma-based chemistry might not work (It'd probably get an atmosphere, which could stop it, I don't know, I'm no expert). Water is out. Would it stay at a high enough temp for Ammonia? Or would we need something that stays liquid even colder?

Any other problems that need to be worked out?
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ATEK Azul
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Transhuman
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i beleave that from what i was told the planet would start die internally and as that happened tectonic would stop and so would geothermal activity, i also heard that this would weaken gravity and the magnetic fields. it would probably have a small atmosphere like mars. and with it literaly tumbling through space it would have an always changing position the only tectonics would be coused by passing objects and the moon plus the core might cool but i doubt it would stop completely. the planet without a strong magnetic field would be constantly bombarded with radiation and cosmic objects and other things would constantly be attacking the planet.

so i would think that only a little of the diversity of the planet would be inhabited and that tiny percent would be some sort of radiation absorbing plant with a consentrated radiation beam defence ment too destroy incoming objects from space. these plants would generate underground nut like fruit which the underground animal life would eat and desperse. the plant life underground would run from chemosynthesis and the burning of flamable gases which would keep the caves warm enough for life some of this warmth would lead too thermalsynthesis. geothermal life would be closer too the core. while waste products would be recycled by all groups. the animals would be adapted too diging and cave life styles, they probably would be adapted too lower gravity aloowing bigger sizes they would not have eyes, they might have adapted there lower and upper jaws into hearing instruments and most would realie on sound and smell or taste. this world would have an always changing enviroment underground as caves collapse and new caves are made by borrowers also there would be a large amount of room too go through since most of the mantle would be solid.

ether way i think it would be a strange and very diverse world.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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CarrionTrooper
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I require more vespene gas?!?
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Well, maybe they would have very radiation-resistant outer skin, and any life on that planet would have to develop long-term hibernation (or maybe cryogenic hibernation or some more extreme forms of this) so they could endure the periods where no tectonic activity happened. They would have very efficient energy regulating and energy gathering strategies or adaptations... yes, plants with very efficient radiation absorption would kinda thrive there.
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Rodge the Linkbot
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The tectonic plate activity here would be sustained by the moon's pull (that's why it has to be so big).

No, gravity would not weaken. It's constant. The affect of it's mother star's gravity would weaken as it gets farther, but that's it. Geothermal might, unless the moon has enough mass to take over the star's role, which even though it will be considerably small, it is also a lot closer. (I might suck at the biological and zoological stuff, but physics I pretty well understand).

So, radiation based photosynthesis? There would be enough energy in most parts of our galaxy to sustain it (loads of large stars with fast lifes are in the major arms, they'd produce enough energy). So probably black plants that use melanin.

We basically have an idea for the producers on this planet. I'm still thinking liquid ammonia to replace water (Not sure about the temperature being warm enough or not). Predation is another problem, which:

The food web problably wouldn't be to large, keep in mind not much energy so not much higher up. Maybe only a few vertical layers.

Senses would be annoying. We can't exactly use star light. Well developed eyes could, yeah, but eyes wouldn't evolve that far here. Limited crude eyes would never get to far without enough light to let them work. We already mentioned that the core would be active, but not as active as ours. So, it's some sort of echolocation or smell as a major sense, or are there other possibilities?

As for my idea of a gravity-base for energy, I got to thinking about metamaterials. They don't show up naturally under normal conditions, but it may be possible somewhere in the universe (maybe a kind of crystal could do this?). Anyway, some metamaterials, when physically deformed even slightly, release small electrical charges. That could sustain a chemical reaction. The materials would be stretched by the tides generated by the moon, or if a compound planet, the other world. Any holes in this idea I should work out?
Edited by Rodge the Linkbot, Feb 15 2009, 04:17 PM.
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Viergacht
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This is really interesting stuff.
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Rodge the Linkbot
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Thanks, it kind of is now that I have a few people thinking about it.

Anyway, I got curious looked into this a little. Now, the minimum temperature of Pluto is, roughly, 33 Kelvin. Oxygen freezes at just over 54 Kelvin. Now, a rogue planet would have colder temperatures then Pluto, so Oxygen is solid. Ammonia is solid. So, my initial idea of the atmosphere is gone (I was expecting to use liquid Ammonia as a solvent). BUT:

Helium is liquid between 1 and 4 Kelvin, any higher and you have a gas. Hydrogen is liquid between 14 and 20 Kelvin. Now, I haven't found out what the temperature of the interseller medium is yet, if any one knows tell me. Hopefully it'll fit just right and we'll have a Helium atmosphere with Hydrogen as the solvent. From there a few of us good get something going (If I have help, I may turn this into a real project).
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Viridian
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Ammonia may be solid under plutonian conditions, however, on a world with a large enough moon, or series of large moons, the tidal forces produced could generate enough internal heat to form a deep ammonia ocean beneath a solid ammonia crust. Somewhat like Europa, except with ammonia instead of water.

The lifetime of such a planet could be quite short though, as large moons would eventually drift away or be thrown out of orbit as the rogue planet was affected by the gravity of passing stars.
Out of nowhere, you are attacked by a snarling, biting mass of felt shaped like a raccoon! This is the single angriest puppet you’ve ever seen, and it’s not cookies that it wants to eat…
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CarrionTrooper
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I require more vespene gas?!?
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That's why rouge planets usually travel alone. Their companions get tugged apart from them by distant stars' gravity. Maybe if the planet was travelling through a massive nebula there could be ample energy sources, but the creatures and plants still needs to hibernate during 'open-space' travels. Maybe if they are sensitive enough they could use the scarce hydrogen atoms found in the vaccuum of space to power themselves.
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Rodge the Linkbot
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Well, that's assuming that their are stars left near it. It could exist between galaxies, in a massive void, like the Hobbes Void. Maybe even in the future where larger voids exist.

A moon probably wouldn't work. But a compound planet should. Right?
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CarrionTrooper
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I require more vespene gas?!?
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That's where their extreme hibernation comes in handy.
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