Would it be possible for an Earth-like planet to have multiple moons with diverse biomes capable of supporting life?

Thanks for taking a moment to help me understand the feasibility of this scenario. Essentially, what I am looking at is an Earth-like world that would be between 1.3x and 1.6x the mass of our own planet, but unlike our own planet this world has multiple natural satellites, each of which are the size of, or smaller than our moon and also capable of supporting life.

Stars

This star system is intended to be a binary system comprised of two red dwarf stars. The idea here being that this would allow the system to last for an incredibly long time as to my understanding, red dwarves are some of the longest lasting types of stars in the known universe. I also like the idea of seeing two stars in the sky of some of these worlds during the day.

Earth-Like Planet

Almost identical to our own world with polar ice caps, large oceans, but more continents of various sizes and shapes. The idea is that there will be many different population centers, isolated from one another, allowing for different levels and types of technologies to be developed almost as if each of these continents are their own little world.

Moon 1

The largest of the satellites, this moon is mostly covered in tundra and glaciers, a very cold climate dominated by a species specially adapted to the harsh conditions. This world is intended to have normal "day-night" cycles like we have on Earth, or at least relatively normal, but with days becoming incredibly short or non-existent on parts of the world during what would be described as the "winter months". This world would have mostly frozen lakes and little to no "oceans".

Moon 2

The second largest of the natural satellites, this world is meant to be humid, mostly covered in jungle and swamp, but with a few pockets of temperate forest sprinkled here and there, probably near the poles. Though this world would be on average warmer than our Earth, I don't think the heat and humidity would get to levels that would be uninhabitable for life, or at least that is the intent. This world may have one moderate sized ocean, but plenty of lakes and marshes.

Moon 3

A smallish sized moon, this world would be mostly comprised of a desert enveloping the majority of its surface, with large oases and several rivers with more fertile soil near the banks/flood plains available to allow for sustaining decent sized population centers. Some portions of the world would be more like barren "scrublands" or a steppe-like envrionment. Similar to the second moon, the idea is that this world doesn't become uninhabital in areas due to the heat (but perhaps due to limited sources of water in some locations), nor would it become too cold at night to kill off the entire population.

In Summary

Giving the information provided (as limited as it may be), would it be possible for a world such as this to exist in a way that populations could not only live, but thrive, on each of the mentioned moons as well as the world they orbit? Would the gravitational pull of these moons be obstructed or manipulated by the binary stars their host orbits, considering the planet would be far closer to them than our own Earth is to its sun because of the nature of red dwarf stars? Could a stable orbit exist for all of these entities and still allow for relatively normal day/night cycles, even when taking the multiple stars into account?

If any more information is required, and I can supply it, I would love to do so. Honestly, astrophysics is not one of my strong points :) Thanks for taking the time to read my vague but long-winded descriptions!

posted almost 8 years ago

Varwulf‭

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