Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: Would the absense of a magnetic field be as catastrophic to the atmosphere of a red-dwarf planetary system?

Solar wind
nick hoffman — (archived)

obviously, a smaller, slower-burning sun will have less wind, but this is offfset at least partially by the planet being MUCH closer. I don't have the numbers handy to check this.

What I can suggest is that this planet should be a waterworld - with average ocean depths of ~ 5 km vs the earth's 3 km. (Imagine sea level rising by 2 km on earth! Only mountain chains would be above water). The stronger gravity will also make mountains less tall. The planet will have a strong convective cycle - Plate Tectonics - and numerous volcanoes due to the larger volume-to surface area ratio of a larger planet. There should be archipelagos and thin mountainous microcontinents.

Of course, we do not know the AGE of the planet. If it is only a few billion years old, it will have more radioactivity and faster convection. If it is very old (say 10 billion years) then it will have cooled and plates may have stopped moving

The magnetic field depends on the rotation of the planet and the vigour of convection in its core. Even though it is probably tidally-locked to its star, it is still rotating every 13 Earth days (its own day is identical to its year). in our own solar system, Venus (243 earth days per revolution) has essentially no magnetic field. Mercury (58.8 days) has a moderate one, partly due to its large core

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