Because we have a little tilt

Spring has sprung in the Northern Hemisphere. Though some of the days my flowers were hidden in the snow, the rain has washed the frigid temperatures away. People are celebrating by wearing shorts even though they still have tuques on, and others are pushing through their rigorous spring cleaning.

Many of our beliefs, myths, and annual events revolve around the changing seasons. Demeter welcomes her beloved daughter back from the underworld and the world grows lush again. Fertile bunnies hide chocolate and colored eggs. Masses gather in the streets of India to throw powered dyes at one another.

But what would the changing of seasons be like on other worlds?

The changing of seasons depend on a planet's axial tilt, but not many other planets have tilts like Earth's. It's rare to have four regular seasons like we do. In fact, most planets have no seasons or wildly fluctuating ones.

It's interesting to imagine what the beliefs and myths in the lives of other worldly beings might be like. Would they even have annual events like we do?  Would they celebrate instead things like the passing of a comet in a regular orbit around their solar system or have myths about the great storm that swirls constantly in the south? How would it shape their minds to have no seasons or ones that could not be predicted?

One things for certain, aliens would likely see Earthlings' traditions as baffling and ridiculous. So much of who we are is based on the fact our planet has a little tilt.

What do you think an alien culture would be like based in a world with no seasons or wildly fluctuating ones?

More Habitable Planets than Earth

As far as habitability goes, Earth may occupy the lower end of the spectrum.

(image courtesy of NASA)

Discoveries of potentially habitable planets orbiting stars other than our sun—exoplanets, that is—are challenging our definitition of habitability, says a recent article by Rene Heller in Scientific American.

Are we on the fringe of 'habitiability'? The idea is astounding. Earth teems with life and wonder. What would a planet more suited to life be like?

Since we're surrounded by worlds less hospitable than our own, it's hard to imagine. Would there be more biodiversity? Less competition to survive? Would more than one intelligent species evolve?

Superhabitable is the term used for planets more livable than our own. What characteristics beyond the essentials of tectonics, volcanic activity, water, atmosphere, magnetosphere, etc..., would these worlds have?

1.  Earth sits on the edge of the habitable zone from the Sun. So worlds more inside 'the zone' would be more habitable.

2.  A different star. Our lovely G star has a short lifespan relative to other stars. Scientists conclude a K star, one with a longer life and less mass, would give life a longer time to evolve. ( Erika Nesvold, Astrobites)

3.  A less stable orbit. Mild changes really disrupt life on Earth. A planet with a slightly changing, eccentric orbit could produce tidal heating, which would make it superhabitable. (see Astrobites)

How do you imagine 'more habitable'?