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The Worlds Out There

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The Earth as a Distant Planet

Part of the book series: Astronomy and Astrophysics Library ((AAL))

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Abstract

A planet is one of the possible byproducts accompanying the formation of a star. In this chapter, we define first what we mean by ‘planet’ and describe the main types of bodies found in our solar system. The four rocky planets show us a relatively wide range of physical conditions that may be present on a terrestrial-type planet. However, nature offers us a broad range of possibilities as well, and so we can describe potential worlds that may be discovered in future surveys when looking for Earth-like planets, some of which already have observational evidence. Finally, we also comment on the terraformation process.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Inverse of the Hubble constant, H.

  2. 2.

    These are any chemical element that condenses from a gas at high temperatures. For example, iron–nickel alloys and silicate minerals.

  3. 3.

    Volatile elements vapourize at relatively low temperatures, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and water (H2O).

  4. 4.

    This is the distance at which water sublimation becomes a significant fraction of the cometary activity, as the comets approach the Sun.

  5. 5.

    With an equatorial radius of 483.3 km, Ceres is located between 2.54 and 2.76 AU from the Sun. It was discovered on 1 January 1801 by the monk Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826). In 2015, it will be visited by the DAWN spacecraft.

  6. 6.

    The amount of material needed to produce the zodiacal light is very small, about a particle every 8 km.

  7. 7.

    Their orbits are the result of gravitational scattering by the gas giants.

  8. 8.

    There are at least 70,000 bodies with diameters larger than 100 km in the 30–50 AU region.

  9. 9.

    Minimum speed the particles of an atmosphere need to ‘escape’ from the gravitational field of the planet.

  10. 10.

    Planets with MP > MJ, temperatures close to 1,500 K and located at orbital distances of 0.05 AU.

  11. 11.

    H ≪ Rp, where H is the height of the atmosphere.

  12. 12.

    In our Solar System, the carbonaceous chondrites would be the bodies that illustrate this process locally.

  13. 13.

    Subjected to varying pressures and temperatures, ice can form in roughly a dozen different phases differentiated by their crystalline structure, ordering and density.

  14. 14.

    See a posterior Erratum. The file in astro-ph is already corrected.

  15. 15.

    RMF = 1 corresponds to pure rocky material and RMF = 0 to pure iron planets.

  16. 16.

    See the trilogy of Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars.

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    M. Vázquez, E. Pallé & P. Montañés Rodríguez

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Vázquez, M., Pallé, E., Rodríguez, P.M. (2010). The Worlds Out There. In: The Earth as a Distant Planet. Astronomy and Astrophysics Library. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1684-6_7

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