Seasons

[Resha Caner]

Is it possible for the tilt of a planet's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit to be small enough that the surface temperature would be relatively constant, and, therefore, that the planet wouldn't have any seasons?

 

[Second Coming]

Maybe if the planet was shaped like a waffle.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Is it possible for the tilt of a planet's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit to be small enough that the surface temperature would be relatively constant, and, therefore, that the planet wouldn't have any seasons?

Yes, of course. Though if a globe, rotating on its axis other than once per revolution around its sun, it would necessarily be warmer near its equator than near the poles.

 

[SeventyOne]

Is it possible for the tilt of a planet's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit to be small enough that the surface temperature would be relatively constant, and, therefore, that the planet wouldn't have any seasons?

Well, they tell you we are 3 million miles closer to the sun during winter, but that the tilt negates all that, making it colder. So, I suppose anything is possible in an imaginary model.

 

[essentialsaltes]

No reason why not.

Compared to Earth's axial tilt of 23 degrees, the tilt of Mercury is 0.01 degrees.

The eccentricity (non circularity) of Venus' orbit is about a third that of the Earth.

No reason why both couldn't be very close to zero, providing a planet with no seasonal variation.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Is it possible for the tilt of a planet's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit to be small enough that the surface temperature would be relatively constant, and, therefore, that the planet wouldn't have any seasons?

Anything that can be imagined is possible.

 

[Tinker Grey]

I can imagine King Kong the existence of which is not possible.

 

[Resha Caner]

I can imagine King Kong the existence of which is not possible.

That can't be. I saw a movie with King Kong. He must exist ...

Indirectly that relates to my follow up question. I was thinking temperature limits on life, but size limits might be interesting as well.

 

[Resha Caner]

No reason why not.

Compared to Earth's axial tilt of 23 degrees, the tilt of Mercury is 0.01 degrees.

The eccentricity (non circularity) of Venus' orbit is about a third that of the Earth.

No reason why both couldn't be very close to zero, providing a planet with no seasonal variation.

Thanks. We might need a biologist for the follow up question: Are there temperature limits on life? i.e. if we had a wintry planet or a summery planet, are there hypothetical ways for live to thrive under those conditions?

 

[grasping the after wind]

I can imagine King Kong the existence of which is not possible.

Are you saying you can imagine something being impossible? Or are you saying you can imagine something that is not possible? Or are you saying that you can imagine the existence of a thing that cannot possibly exist? I cannot see how one could say with any certainty that there is anything of which there is no possibility that it could exist. To say something could not exist one would need some sort of evidence. It is not like saying one has no evidence that the thing currently exists. Are you saying that you have evidence that a King Kong could not possibly exist over the the course of eternity in an infinite universe? One may be able to show that something is impossible in a finite universe over a finite period of time, though I do not know how one would go about it, but to be able to rule out all possibility of the existence of a thing everywhere and forever seems to be a task one simply has no ability to successfully undertake.

 

[Resha Caner]

... to be able to rule out all possibility of the existence of a thing everywhere and forever seems to be a task one simply has no ability to successfully undertake.

Yeah. I once had a thread asking, "What is impossible?", and the only thing people could come up with were logical contradictions such as square circles - i.e. definitional problems. However, for the purposes of this thread, I'm more interested in whether we know enough about chemistry, etc. to posit a life form in extreme environments.

So, for example, is there a temperature at which the chemical reactions necessary for life just can't be sustained? Further, not just for our life, but any life we could posit, e.g. silicon-based life.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Thanks. We might need a biologist for the follow up question: Are there temperature limits on life? i.e. if we had a wintry planet or a summery planet, are there hypothetical ways for live to thrive under those conditions?

Extremophiles on earth can live at extreme (to me) temperature ranges both hot and cold.

 

[Resha Caner]

Extremophiles on earth can live at extreme (to me) temperature ranges both hot and cold.

Yeah. I was aware some microbes had been found in extreme conditions. I was wondering more if there has been exploratory work into identifying what might allow life to live in extreme conditions. I'm not impressed when people find something that already exists and then "explain" why its possible.

A short (long?) digression about my own experiences. I'm on a team developing a new product for our company. Compared to our typical operating environment, this product will be expected to perform under extreme conditions. Per our traditional design, I predicted failure for the subsystem I'm responsible for, and proposed a new design. A prototype of the new design was built and sent to be tested. During the test, a different subsystem (not mine) failed. After the failure the responsible team asked how I had simulated the extreme conditions for my analysis. They replicated my process and "predicted" their subsystem would fail. Awesome. I would have been happy to help them before the test, but since I'm not part of that team I wasn't aware they had checked their design under standard conditions. Morons.

Anyway, I'll then ask this question: In what way do our sister planets (Mars, Venus) exceed the extreme conditions where these microbes have been found on earth?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Anyway, I'll then ask this question: In what way do our sister planets (Mars, Venus) exceed the extreme conditions where these microbes have been found on earth?

"The average temperature on Venus is 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius)." This is hot enough to melt lead.

Mars is more borderline. "Differing in situ values have been reported for the average temperature on Mars, with a common value being −63 °C (210 K; −81 °F). Surface temperatures may reach a high of about 20 °C (293 K; 68 °F) at noon, at the equator, and a low of about −153 °C (120 K; −243 °F) at the poles."

That average temperature is quite a bit below the lower limit for earth extremophiles. Although summers at the equator at noon are room temperature, I don't know that the equator would be warm enough all year round.

I think a bigger problem would be the lack of available water in both places.

 

[Brightmoon]

Thanks. We might need a biologist for the follow up question: Are there temperature limits on life? i.e. if we had a wintry planet or a summery planet, are there hypothetical ways for live to thrive under those conditions?

there’s some recent evidence that the higher temperatures due to global warming is affecting the size of some animals . They’re becoming smaller. This means that they have smaller broods . They’re more liable to heat stress because of the smaller body size and kidney problems are showing up in animals and in humans because of the higher temperatures mixed with high humidity in tropical regions. Heat stress also affects plants

There are also animals that change sex due to the higher or lower incubation temperature of their eggs. Some turtles do this

 

[USincognito]

Well, they tell you we are 3 million miles closer to the sun during winter, but that the tilt negates all that, making it colder. So, I suppose anything is possible in an imaginary model.

The funny thing about this comment is that there is no reason for seasons on Flerf.

 

[USincognito]

Is it possible for the tilt of a planet's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit to be small enough that the surface temperature would be relatively constant, and, therefore, that the planet wouldn't have any seasons?

I know this isn't quite what you're asking, but scientists have done some though exercises into the seasons on Game of Thrones world.
Seasons on 'Game of Thrones' Planet: How They Work

 

[dgiharris]

Is it possible for the tilt of a planet's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit to be small enough that the surface temperature would be relatively constant, and, therefore, that the planet wouldn't have any seasons?

Absolutely.

The axial tilt of a planet can have several interesting effects on the planet.
#1) The tilt impacts the distance various points of the planet are from the heat source-- i.e. sun
#2) If the planet has a magnetic field, then the tilt would impact how the field interacts with the sun meaning the angle of the planet's magnetic field relative to the sun would impact that amount of heat energy that reaches the surface of the planet.

As far as the planet's orbit
The Planet's eccentricity is directly related to the planet's distance from the sun thus impacting the amount of heat energy that reaches the surface of the planet. If the eccentricity is such that the distance from the sun is constant then that is going to go a long way towards ensuring a constant temperature on the planet.

 

[Astrophile]

Is it possible for the tilt of a planet's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit to be small enough that the surface temperature would be relatively constant, and, therefore, that the planet wouldn't have any seasons?

Yes. Jupiter's axial tilt is only 3.13° and its orbital eccentricity is 0.0485, half that of Mars and less than a quarter that of Mercury.

Venus rotates retrograde, and its axial tilt is 177.36°, only 2.64° different from 180°; moreover, its orbital eccentricity is 0.00677 so that the difference between its maximum and minimum distances from the sun is only 1.46 million kilometres, so that there can be hardly any seasonal variations.

 

[loveofourlord]

Well, they tell you we are 3 million miles closer to the sun during winter, but that the tilt negates all that, making it colder. So, I suppose anything is possible in an imaginary model.

well yeah, if your 30 feet from a bon fire, and get 3 feet closer, your going to be warmer, but not all that much.