Possible life on tidally locked planets of red dwarfs
I've been thinking about life on tidally locked planets of red dwarfs.
Common arguments against it is that the light is too low and red dwarfs are prone to emit flares, destroying potential lifeforms.
Methinks that, if the planet is heavy enough to retain a dense atmosphere and a global ocean with liquid water, the heat exchange would be sufficient to retain (most) of the water liquid on the dark side. The dark side would also be protected from flares, possibly even take profit from products created to use via chemotrophy.
Any ideas about that?
2 answers
I think you can probably keep the flares in and work in the twilight zone. Possibly the tidally planet could work up a biosphere in the interface between the light and dark sides. If the atmosphere is dense, you would also have great diffraction, helping bringing heat and light to a stretch of land that should theoretically be in the perennial dark. Added to the heat exchange with the oceans you've already mentioned, we'd have to factor in wind movement sweeping from the hot side to the cold side.
The science for calculating the energy output for a red dwarf's flare is beyond me, but it's also due to a lack of interest. I'm positive there's is probably some combination of variables (distance from the star, atmosphere, planetary size) to make this possible or at least plausible. It ain't no lightspeed travel.
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If you have a Europa-like body (ice shell with wet ocean beneath), instead of an Earth-like one:
Flares
The ice shell will protect life from the flare. The periodic flares may thin the shell, allowing resources the have accumulated from outside (meteorites, tholins) to migrate in, providing new raw materials for life.
Sunlight
Not a requirement in a chemosynthetic environment.
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