I actually had similar thoughts after I had heard about 'super-earths' a
little over a year ago and DID have a brief email exchange with EDG. His
expertise in the field pointed out at that time that the locations of known
super earths put them out of range of the habitable zones either too close
or too far. and in any event he pointed out the scientific aspects of
atmosphere. specifically composition rather than density per se. an
atmosphere too rich in O2 wouldn't last long due to combustibility with
other elements. O2 is less common than hydrogen and nitriogen anyway. so an
atmosphere compromised of say %25 O2 at any density provides a combustion
chamber for an atmosphere. even items which normally will not burn at %17 O2
WILL burn at %25. There is an argument that can be made that O2 will make
it's own equilibrium in the long run when it 'burns off'. but that is one
for EDG, not me. still, it would be interesting to have an adventure on a
planet with an O2 content high enough to pose a hazard to a crew even in
Hostile env. vacc suits. and oh yeah, O2 IS a corrosive at high enough
concentrations. another one for EDG or a chemist perhaps.
Perhaps terraforming will be the only way, in the long run, to find another
earthlike atmosphere.
On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 6:31 PM, <> wrote:
>
>
> On 16 Jul 2009 at 17:52, <>wrote:
>
> > Quoting DED < <>>:
> > > I'd like to know what others think about this and hopefully EDG will
> > > weigh in as well. In fact, he probably already has a revised world
> > > generation sequence to take this into account. :)
> >
> > Rather than figuring out how to generate them, I just want to know
> > three things:
> > - How "good" their atmosphere can be? (I.e. how thick/thin?)
> > - Could such a planet support significant life? (I.e. macroscopic
> > multicellular life.)
> > - Could such a planet support human life?
>
> The fact that they *aren't* gas giants pretty much guarantees that
> they were exposed to really high temps for an extended period to
> drive off the volatiles.
>
> That would tend to make them a lot les hospitable to life.
>
> --
> Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
> shadow at shadowgard dot com
>
>
>
--
"Here at Ortillery Command we have at our disposal one hundred megawatt
laser beams, mach 20 titanium rods and guided thermonuclear bombs. Some
people say we think that we're God. We're not God. We just borrowed his
SMITE button for our fire control system"