A theoretic world question.

[Rion]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

 

[jobbomb6]

Not possible. GOD made it how it is for a reason. That's all I need to say.

 

[TheBear]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

One thing that comes to mind is that nocturnal predators would lose an advantage.

 

[Tomk80]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

Something like a moon that is more reflective than our moon, in a path around the earth that is perfectly in sync with the way the earth goes around the sun could possibly do it? I'm just going out on a limb here.

 

[Loudmouth]

You could have additional suns out in the distance that shine on the part of the Earth that is not pointing at the current sun . . . oh, wait . . . that already happens.

 

[essentialsaltes]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight?

Possibly if you gave it a lot more atmosphere, but kept it relatively transparent. Our real atmosphere is relatively thin compared to the size of the earth. But if the atmosphere were as thick as the earth's radius, there might be enough Rayleigh scattering to keep the backside lit. However with that much atmosphere, I'd worry that the pressure at the surface of the earth would be so great, the gas would actually liquefy/solidify like in a gas giant.
Also, with that much atmosphere to go through, the light would be much redder and dimmer, possibly not bright enough to be considered lit.
That's my half-baked idea, anyway.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Oh, if we go to artificial ideas, then yes you could put orbiting mirrors or something. A variation of Ringworld's shadow squares that create day and night would be to have mirror squares that keep the nightside lit.

 

[tonybeer]

There are place on the Earth that have only sunlight for months.

 

[Rion]

One thing that comes to mind is that nocturnal predators would lose an advantage.

Well, in my theoretical world the planet would have been this way at the beginning, so there wouldn't have been nocturnal predators.

Oh, if we go to artificial ideas, then yes you could put orbiting mirrors or something. A variation of Ringworld's shadow squares that create day and night would be to have mirror squares that keep the nightside lit.

Hmm... so artificial "moon" satilites of sorts?

 

[TheBear]

Well, in my theoretical world the planet would have been this way at the beginning, so there wouldn't have been nocturnal predators.

Sounds good.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

Yes: the Moon. Or rather, a sufficient number of sufficiently reflective moons. Or a preponderance of supernovae.

There's nothing natural in the atmosphere that I know about that would allow permanent twilight/daylight by reflecting the Sun's light across the entire atmosphere, but certainly artificial structures could do it (something nanoscopic, maybe, or enormous mirrors in space).

 

[keith99]

Sure,

All you need is a trinary star system that works out right.

But every few thousand years you have to worry about the stars coming out to steal men's souls.

Sorry I. A.

 

[Orogeny]

You could have additional suns out in the distance that shine on the part of the Earth that is not pointing at the current sun . . . oh, wait . . . that already happens.

This.

 

[AV1611VET]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

Synchronous rotation, with a moon as large as the planet in geosynchronous orbit over the darkside.

 

[juvenissun]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

Thank you very very much. May God bless you with more of His wisdom.

Your idea helped me to solve another hard problem to me.

 

[Naraoia]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

Hey, are you writing sci-fi here?

If you're willing to go for a compromise, make it tidally locked. You could at least have half a planet with permanent daylight that way, and therefore entire ecosystems that never saw night (Here's some interesting climate simulations for tidally locked Earths)

 

[TerranceL]

For the sake of argument, let's say the world's the same size as Earth, with the distance from the sun and rotation.

Now, is there something that could, in theory mind you, allow it so that the planet never experiences a complete night/absence of sunlight? Like something in the atmosphere which causes a refraction of the sunlight so that there's a dusk/twilight effect until the sun rises the next day?

A multiple star system?

A planet with a very large moon, or multiple moons?


I once read a sci-fi novel where a planet was much much closer to the core of the galaxy than we are, because of the density of stars it spent most of its time without a "true night".

 

[TerranceL]

Hey, are you writing sci-fi here?

If you're willing to go for a compromise, make it tidally locked. You could at least have half a planet with permanent daylight that way, and therefore entire ecosystems that never saw night (Here's some interesting climate simulations for tidally locked Earths)

The planet mercury is tidally locked iirc, but might be a bad idea for a setting because of how close it is to the sun.

 

[Naraoia]

The planet mercury is tidally locked iirc...

Nope, not quite.

Which brings me to the question: why are none of the Sun's planets tidally locked? Not enough time? How long does it take for, say, an earth-Sun system to get the planet locked? The disappointing answer from Wikipedia seems to be "it depends on lots of things, in awfully complicated ways"

 

[Davian]

Synchronous rotation, with a moon as large as the planet in geosynchronous orbit over the darkside.

The height of the geosynchronous orbit is directly related to the rotational speed of the planet. Slowed to one rotation/year, the orbit would be useless.

Better, but not much more practical, would be putting mirrors at the Lagrangian points.

Lagrangian point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then there's the problem of dissipating all that extra energy back into space...