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[–] 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

That's probably more realistic. Most planets are just barren rocks that are too hot or too cold, aren't they?

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago

    I don't know if we have enough evidence to make such claims tbh. In our solar system, half the planets are rocks with a metal core (riffs playing in the background), the other half are gas giants. Among the gazillion moons though, there are some ice moons (like Titan and Europa), Venus only has no oceans because it is too hot, Mars has a volcanic past and may be warmer had it a thicker athmosphere and has polar ice caps, etc. There is a lot going on on these "barren rocks" and a lot of them being barren rocks could be due to them being located outside the goldilock zone.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

    If there is somewhere where humans can live, then likely there are also zones nearer and further from the poles.

    So e.g. surely almost all planets with a livable zone would have polar ice caps.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    Those planets typically don't heave a breathable atmosphere, though. You pretty much need a large biosphere if you want to be able to walk around without a spacesuit. An iceball world or a barren rock probably won't contain a breathable amount of oxygen in an otherwise mostly inert atmosphere. If you want to breathe pure carbon dioxide or get fried by nearly unfiltered UV radiation, though, they'd be great.

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