Environmental conditions on quasi tidal locked planet

There is an earth like planet, with similar mass, gravity, atmosphere and magnetic field. The main difference with earth is that it has a highly eccentric orbit (eccentricity 0.8).

Let's say that the planet shows a form of quasi tidal locking, in the sense that when it covers the green sector in the picture it shows always the same face to the star, which is similar to our Sun. The closest it gets to the star is about the same distance as Mercury.

Under these assumptions, would the thermal inertia of the atmosphere at least mitigate the scorching thermal effect of the star? Or would the atmosphere be whiped away after few local years?

NOTE: I am not asking if it would still sustain life.

posted almost 8 years ago

L.Dutch - Reinstate Monica‭

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