Could ‘terminator zones’ on far off planets harbor life?
Some exoplanets have one side permanently facing their star while the other side is in perpetual darkness. The ring-shaped border between these permanent day and night regions is called a “terminator zone.” In a new paper, researchers say this area has the potential to support extraterrestrial life. (Credit: Ana Lobo/UC Irvine)
Extraterrestrial life has the potential to exist on distant exoplanets inside special areas called “terminator zones,” according to a new study.
“These planets have a permanent day side and a permanent night side,” says lead author Ana Lobo, a postdoctoral researcher in the physics and astronomy department at the University of California, Irvine.
Such planets are particularly common because they exist around stars that make up about 70% of the stars seen in the night sky—so-called M-dwarf stars, which are relatively dimmer than our sun, Lobo says.
The terminator is the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet. Terminator zones could exist in that “just right” temperature zone between too hot and too cold.
