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How to explain one side of Super Earth is smoother than the other side?


How would the inhabitants of one planet kill the inhabitants of the other?How many spaceships would it take to block the Sun from the daylight side of the Earth?Could I create a shock on Earth's crust so strong that it would affect the other side of the Earth?Could a body of moving water be a colour other than blue?How can I find out the length of seasons and solar year on this planet?If there was a Counter-Earth on the other side of the Sun, when would it have been discovered?Humanoids in Super EarthThe Rocky Side of the World Without OilHow would coral reefs thrive on this super-earth world?Is this planetary moon's calendar possible?













5












$begingroup$


A spaceship flew across an unclassified region of the Milky Way galaxy and found a Super Earth in an unnamed system, the planet is almost twice as massive as Earth and is orbiting fairly far away from it's parent star. Unfortunately there is no liquid water and is deemed too cold for settlement, strangely one side of the planet has a gigantic flat ice sheet covering half of the planet surface while the other side is ridded with craters some as deep as 20km below global mean surface gravity level. How to explain the finding?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    Could it be as simple as all the continental crust has accumulated into a supercontinent on one side of the planet, while the other side is frozen ocean?
    $endgroup$
    – Arkenstein XII
    11 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    How is this super Earth if the environment is so different from Earth's? It seems like it's too cold on the far side for life as we know it to be possible, and seemingly too inhospitable on the other. It seems like there's little air, and no plants to turn the air towards oxygen. Meanwhile, it's tide-locked while too far from the sun to get enough energy for life. Considering the millions of stars with untold planets in the galaxy, why come here?
    $endgroup$
    – Ed Grimm
    10 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @EdGrimm: the definition of super earth is up to debate but I'm following the one used by kelper mission, the spacecraft is on a mission to chart the new region of space and to identify resource hot spot.
    $endgroup$
    – user6760
    10 hours ago
















5












$begingroup$


A spaceship flew across an unclassified region of the Milky Way galaxy and found a Super Earth in an unnamed system, the planet is almost twice as massive as Earth and is orbiting fairly far away from it's parent star. Unfortunately there is no liquid water and is deemed too cold for settlement, strangely one side of the planet has a gigantic flat ice sheet covering half of the planet surface while the other side is ridded with craters some as deep as 20km below global mean surface gravity level. How to explain the finding?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    Could it be as simple as all the continental crust has accumulated into a supercontinent on one side of the planet, while the other side is frozen ocean?
    $endgroup$
    – Arkenstein XII
    11 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    How is this super Earth if the environment is so different from Earth's? It seems like it's too cold on the far side for life as we know it to be possible, and seemingly too inhospitable on the other. It seems like there's little air, and no plants to turn the air towards oxygen. Meanwhile, it's tide-locked while too far from the sun to get enough energy for life. Considering the millions of stars with untold planets in the galaxy, why come here?
    $endgroup$
    – Ed Grimm
    10 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @EdGrimm: the definition of super earth is up to debate but I'm following the one used by kelper mission, the spacecraft is on a mission to chart the new region of space and to identify resource hot spot.
    $endgroup$
    – user6760
    10 hours ago














5












5








5





$begingroup$


A spaceship flew across an unclassified region of the Milky Way galaxy and found a Super Earth in an unnamed system, the planet is almost twice as massive as Earth and is orbiting fairly far away from it's parent star. Unfortunately there is no liquid water and is deemed too cold for settlement, strangely one side of the planet has a gigantic flat ice sheet covering half of the planet surface while the other side is ridded with craters some as deep as 20km below global mean surface gravity level. How to explain the finding?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$




A spaceship flew across an unclassified region of the Milky Way galaxy and found a Super Earth in an unnamed system, the planet is almost twice as massive as Earth and is orbiting fairly far away from it's parent star. Unfortunately there is no liquid water and is deemed too cold for settlement, strangely one side of the planet has a gigantic flat ice sheet covering half of the planet surface while the other side is ridded with craters some as deep as 20km below global mean surface gravity level. How to explain the finding?







planets geology topography






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 3 hours ago







user6760

















asked 11 hours ago









user6760user6760

12k1366143




12k1366143












  • $begingroup$
    Could it be as simple as all the continental crust has accumulated into a supercontinent on one side of the planet, while the other side is frozen ocean?
    $endgroup$
    – Arkenstein XII
    11 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    How is this super Earth if the environment is so different from Earth's? It seems like it's too cold on the far side for life as we know it to be possible, and seemingly too inhospitable on the other. It seems like there's little air, and no plants to turn the air towards oxygen. Meanwhile, it's tide-locked while too far from the sun to get enough energy for life. Considering the millions of stars with untold planets in the galaxy, why come here?
    $endgroup$
    – Ed Grimm
    10 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @EdGrimm: the definition of super earth is up to debate but I'm following the one used by kelper mission, the spacecraft is on a mission to chart the new region of space and to identify resource hot spot.
    $endgroup$
    – user6760
    10 hours ago


















  • $begingroup$
    Could it be as simple as all the continental crust has accumulated into a supercontinent on one side of the planet, while the other side is frozen ocean?
    $endgroup$
    – Arkenstein XII
    11 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    How is this super Earth if the environment is so different from Earth's? It seems like it's too cold on the far side for life as we know it to be possible, and seemingly too inhospitable on the other. It seems like there's little air, and no plants to turn the air towards oxygen. Meanwhile, it's tide-locked while too far from the sun to get enough energy for life. Considering the millions of stars with untold planets in the galaxy, why come here?
    $endgroup$
    – Ed Grimm
    10 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @EdGrimm: the definition of super earth is up to debate but I'm following the one used by kelper mission, the spacecraft is on a mission to chart the new region of space and to identify resource hot spot.
    $endgroup$
    – user6760
    10 hours ago
















$begingroup$
Could it be as simple as all the continental crust has accumulated into a supercontinent on one side of the planet, while the other side is frozen ocean?
$endgroup$
– Arkenstein XII
11 hours ago




$begingroup$
Could it be as simple as all the continental crust has accumulated into a supercontinent on one side of the planet, while the other side is frozen ocean?
$endgroup$
– Arkenstein XII
11 hours ago




1




1




$begingroup$
How is this super Earth if the environment is so different from Earth's? It seems like it's too cold on the far side for life as we know it to be possible, and seemingly too inhospitable on the other. It seems like there's little air, and no plants to turn the air towards oxygen. Meanwhile, it's tide-locked while too far from the sun to get enough energy for life. Considering the millions of stars with untold planets in the galaxy, why come here?
$endgroup$
– Ed Grimm
10 hours ago




$begingroup$
How is this super Earth if the environment is so different from Earth's? It seems like it's too cold on the far side for life as we know it to be possible, and seemingly too inhospitable on the other. It seems like there's little air, and no plants to turn the air towards oxygen. Meanwhile, it's tide-locked while too far from the sun to get enough energy for life. Considering the millions of stars with untold planets in the galaxy, why come here?
$endgroup$
– Ed Grimm
10 hours ago












$begingroup$
@EdGrimm: the definition of super earth is up to debate but I'm following the one used by kelper mission, the spacecraft is on a mission to chart the new region of space and to identify resource hot spot.
$endgroup$
– user6760
10 hours ago




$begingroup$
@EdGrimm: the definition of super earth is up to debate but I'm following the one used by kelper mission, the spacecraft is on a mission to chart the new region of space and to identify resource hot spot.
$endgroup$
– user6760
10 hours ago










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes


















12












$begingroup$

I'm reminded strongly of Iapetus, a moon of Saturn that has a dramatic two-tone coloring. One hemisphere is quite light, while the other is dark. It almost looks like you dunked half of the moon in chocolate:



Map of Iapetus
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Lunar and Planetary Institute. Public domain.



Iapetus is tidally locked, meaning that one side is always the "leading" half of the moon. This means that it easily attracts particles from a giant ring of dust created by the moon Phoebe, which orbits in the opposite direction. One half of Iapetus is dusted by the darker particles, which, a long time ago, kick-started a feedback loop that sublimated ice on one side while keeping it frozen on the other. This self-propagating cycle continued until one hemisphere was dark and one was light.



I can imagine something similar happening here - tidal locking in the past, and a transfer of material from another planet in a nearby retrograde orbit. It's possible that this transfer could have been a true bombardment, rather than the light dusting Iapetus received. A tight system like TRAPPIST-1 could be useful here, but the retrograde orbit could do weird things with the resonances, so maybe that wouldn't be such a great choice after all.






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    I like real world example👍
    $endgroup$
    – user6760
    10 hours ago



















3












$begingroup$

Big impact.



Something like this might have happened to Mars.



https://www.space.com/5558-huge-impact-created-mars-split-personality.html



mars impact




Scientists have been scratching their heads trying to explain the differences between the two sides of Mars for about 30 years. The northern hemisphere of the planet is smooth and low, and some experts think it may have contained a vast ocean long ago. Meanwhile, the southern half of the Martian surface is rough and heavily-cratered, and about 2.5 miles to 5 miles (4 km to 8 km) higher in elevation than the northern basin...



"What we noticed is that the dichotomy boundary around the planet was actually smooth and regular. We tested to see if we could fit this with any shape, and it just so happens that it's almost perfectly fitted by an ellipse. There's only one process that's known to make an elliptical depression like that, and that's a giant impact."




So too your planet. Something big whacked into it hard, flattening out the water side. An impact like that probably softened everything up, and when it equilibrated the new giant hole filled with water, that then froze.



Whatever the big impactor was, it had friends which accounted for the holes on the far side. Or maybe material knocked free from the impact flew out and then eventually back in, digging those craters on the dry side.






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$





















    0












    $begingroup$

    Just a shot in the dark, but the planet could be tidally locked, similar to our moon, meaning that one side always faces away from the sun. It could be that the side facing away from the sun would have cooled so much as to create a frozen surface of water, while all water from the other side boiled away. The craters on the inner side are caused by meteors, and they show only because there is no frozen ocean covering them, only bare crust.






    share|improve this answer








    New contributor




    Joe Fioti is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.






    $endgroup$













      Your Answer





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      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes








      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      12












      $begingroup$

      I'm reminded strongly of Iapetus, a moon of Saturn that has a dramatic two-tone coloring. One hemisphere is quite light, while the other is dark. It almost looks like you dunked half of the moon in chocolate:



      Map of Iapetus
      Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Lunar and Planetary Institute. Public domain.



      Iapetus is tidally locked, meaning that one side is always the "leading" half of the moon. This means that it easily attracts particles from a giant ring of dust created by the moon Phoebe, which orbits in the opposite direction. One half of Iapetus is dusted by the darker particles, which, a long time ago, kick-started a feedback loop that sublimated ice on one side while keeping it frozen on the other. This self-propagating cycle continued until one hemisphere was dark and one was light.



      I can imagine something similar happening here - tidal locking in the past, and a transfer of material from another planet in a nearby retrograde orbit. It's possible that this transfer could have been a true bombardment, rather than the light dusting Iapetus received. A tight system like TRAPPIST-1 could be useful here, but the retrograde orbit could do weird things with the resonances, so maybe that wouldn't be such a great choice after all.






      share|improve this answer











      $endgroup$













      • $begingroup$
        I like real world example👍
        $endgroup$
        – user6760
        10 hours ago
















      12












      $begingroup$

      I'm reminded strongly of Iapetus, a moon of Saturn that has a dramatic two-tone coloring. One hemisphere is quite light, while the other is dark. It almost looks like you dunked half of the moon in chocolate:



      Map of Iapetus
      Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Lunar and Planetary Institute. Public domain.



      Iapetus is tidally locked, meaning that one side is always the "leading" half of the moon. This means that it easily attracts particles from a giant ring of dust created by the moon Phoebe, which orbits in the opposite direction. One half of Iapetus is dusted by the darker particles, which, a long time ago, kick-started a feedback loop that sublimated ice on one side while keeping it frozen on the other. This self-propagating cycle continued until one hemisphere was dark and one was light.



      I can imagine something similar happening here - tidal locking in the past, and a transfer of material from another planet in a nearby retrograde orbit. It's possible that this transfer could have been a true bombardment, rather than the light dusting Iapetus received. A tight system like TRAPPIST-1 could be useful here, but the retrograde orbit could do weird things with the resonances, so maybe that wouldn't be such a great choice after all.






      share|improve this answer











      $endgroup$













      • $begingroup$
        I like real world example👍
        $endgroup$
        – user6760
        10 hours ago














      12












      12








      12





      $begingroup$

      I'm reminded strongly of Iapetus, a moon of Saturn that has a dramatic two-tone coloring. One hemisphere is quite light, while the other is dark. It almost looks like you dunked half of the moon in chocolate:



      Map of Iapetus
      Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Lunar and Planetary Institute. Public domain.



      Iapetus is tidally locked, meaning that one side is always the "leading" half of the moon. This means that it easily attracts particles from a giant ring of dust created by the moon Phoebe, which orbits in the opposite direction. One half of Iapetus is dusted by the darker particles, which, a long time ago, kick-started a feedback loop that sublimated ice on one side while keeping it frozen on the other. This self-propagating cycle continued until one hemisphere was dark and one was light.



      I can imagine something similar happening here - tidal locking in the past, and a transfer of material from another planet in a nearby retrograde orbit. It's possible that this transfer could have been a true bombardment, rather than the light dusting Iapetus received. A tight system like TRAPPIST-1 could be useful here, but the retrograde orbit could do weird things with the resonances, so maybe that wouldn't be such a great choice after all.






      share|improve this answer











      $endgroup$



      I'm reminded strongly of Iapetus, a moon of Saturn that has a dramatic two-tone coloring. One hemisphere is quite light, while the other is dark. It almost looks like you dunked half of the moon in chocolate:



      Map of Iapetus
      Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Lunar and Planetary Institute. Public domain.



      Iapetus is tidally locked, meaning that one side is always the "leading" half of the moon. This means that it easily attracts particles from a giant ring of dust created by the moon Phoebe, which orbits in the opposite direction. One half of Iapetus is dusted by the darker particles, which, a long time ago, kick-started a feedback loop that sublimated ice on one side while keeping it frozen on the other. This self-propagating cycle continued until one hemisphere was dark and one was light.



      I can imagine something similar happening here - tidal locking in the past, and a transfer of material from another planet in a nearby retrograde orbit. It's possible that this transfer could have been a true bombardment, rather than the light dusting Iapetus received. A tight system like TRAPPIST-1 could be useful here, but the retrograde orbit could do weird things with the resonances, so maybe that wouldn't be such a great choice after all.







      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited 9 mins ago

























      answered 10 hours ago









      HDE 226868HDE 226868

      64.9k13223421




      64.9k13223421












      • $begingroup$
        I like real world example👍
        $endgroup$
        – user6760
        10 hours ago


















      • $begingroup$
        I like real world example👍
        $endgroup$
        – user6760
        10 hours ago
















      $begingroup$
      I like real world example👍
      $endgroup$
      – user6760
      10 hours ago




      $begingroup$
      I like real world example👍
      $endgroup$
      – user6760
      10 hours ago











      3












      $begingroup$

      Big impact.



      Something like this might have happened to Mars.



      https://www.space.com/5558-huge-impact-created-mars-split-personality.html



      mars impact




      Scientists have been scratching their heads trying to explain the differences between the two sides of Mars for about 30 years. The northern hemisphere of the planet is smooth and low, and some experts think it may have contained a vast ocean long ago. Meanwhile, the southern half of the Martian surface is rough and heavily-cratered, and about 2.5 miles to 5 miles (4 km to 8 km) higher in elevation than the northern basin...



      "What we noticed is that the dichotomy boundary around the planet was actually smooth and regular. We tested to see if we could fit this with any shape, and it just so happens that it's almost perfectly fitted by an ellipse. There's only one process that's known to make an elliptical depression like that, and that's a giant impact."




      So too your planet. Something big whacked into it hard, flattening out the water side. An impact like that probably softened everything up, and when it equilibrated the new giant hole filled with water, that then froze.



      Whatever the big impactor was, it had friends which accounted for the holes on the far side. Or maybe material knocked free from the impact flew out and then eventually back in, digging those craters on the dry side.






      share|improve this answer











      $endgroup$


















        3












        $begingroup$

        Big impact.



        Something like this might have happened to Mars.



        https://www.space.com/5558-huge-impact-created-mars-split-personality.html



        mars impact




        Scientists have been scratching their heads trying to explain the differences between the two sides of Mars for about 30 years. The northern hemisphere of the planet is smooth and low, and some experts think it may have contained a vast ocean long ago. Meanwhile, the southern half of the Martian surface is rough and heavily-cratered, and about 2.5 miles to 5 miles (4 km to 8 km) higher in elevation than the northern basin...



        "What we noticed is that the dichotomy boundary around the planet was actually smooth and regular. We tested to see if we could fit this with any shape, and it just so happens that it's almost perfectly fitted by an ellipse. There's only one process that's known to make an elliptical depression like that, and that's a giant impact."




        So too your planet. Something big whacked into it hard, flattening out the water side. An impact like that probably softened everything up, and when it equilibrated the new giant hole filled with water, that then froze.



        Whatever the big impactor was, it had friends which accounted for the holes on the far side. Or maybe material knocked free from the impact flew out and then eventually back in, digging those craters on the dry side.






        share|improve this answer











        $endgroup$
















          3












          3








          3





          $begingroup$

          Big impact.



          Something like this might have happened to Mars.



          https://www.space.com/5558-huge-impact-created-mars-split-personality.html



          mars impact




          Scientists have been scratching their heads trying to explain the differences between the two sides of Mars for about 30 years. The northern hemisphere of the planet is smooth and low, and some experts think it may have contained a vast ocean long ago. Meanwhile, the southern half of the Martian surface is rough and heavily-cratered, and about 2.5 miles to 5 miles (4 km to 8 km) higher in elevation than the northern basin...



          "What we noticed is that the dichotomy boundary around the planet was actually smooth and regular. We tested to see if we could fit this with any shape, and it just so happens that it's almost perfectly fitted by an ellipse. There's only one process that's known to make an elliptical depression like that, and that's a giant impact."




          So too your planet. Something big whacked into it hard, flattening out the water side. An impact like that probably softened everything up, and when it equilibrated the new giant hole filled with water, that then froze.



          Whatever the big impactor was, it had friends which accounted for the holes on the far side. Or maybe material knocked free from the impact flew out and then eventually back in, digging those craters on the dry side.






          share|improve this answer











          $endgroup$



          Big impact.



          Something like this might have happened to Mars.



          https://www.space.com/5558-huge-impact-created-mars-split-personality.html



          mars impact




          Scientists have been scratching their heads trying to explain the differences between the two sides of Mars for about 30 years. The northern hemisphere of the planet is smooth and low, and some experts think it may have contained a vast ocean long ago. Meanwhile, the southern half of the Martian surface is rough and heavily-cratered, and about 2.5 miles to 5 miles (4 km to 8 km) higher in elevation than the northern basin...



          "What we noticed is that the dichotomy boundary around the planet was actually smooth and regular. We tested to see if we could fit this with any shape, and it just so happens that it's almost perfectly fitted by an ellipse. There's only one process that's known to make an elliptical depression like that, and that's a giant impact."




          So too your planet. Something big whacked into it hard, flattening out the water side. An impact like that probably softened everything up, and when it equilibrated the new giant hole filled with water, that then froze.



          Whatever the big impactor was, it had friends which accounted for the holes on the far side. Or maybe material knocked free from the impact flew out and then eventually back in, digging those craters on the dry side.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited 6 hours ago









          G0BLiN

          2,91511121




          2,91511121










          answered 9 hours ago









          WillkWillk

          108k26204452




          108k26204452























              0












              $begingroup$

              Just a shot in the dark, but the planet could be tidally locked, similar to our moon, meaning that one side always faces away from the sun. It could be that the side facing away from the sun would have cooled so much as to create a frozen surface of water, while all water from the other side boiled away. The craters on the inner side are caused by meteors, and they show only because there is no frozen ocean covering them, only bare crust.






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              Joe Fioti is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.






              $endgroup$


















                0












                $begingroup$

                Just a shot in the dark, but the planet could be tidally locked, similar to our moon, meaning that one side always faces away from the sun. It could be that the side facing away from the sun would have cooled so much as to create a frozen surface of water, while all water from the other side boiled away. The craters on the inner side are caused by meteors, and they show only because there is no frozen ocean covering them, only bare crust.






                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                Joe Fioti is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.






                $endgroup$
















                  0












                  0








                  0





                  $begingroup$

                  Just a shot in the dark, but the planet could be tidally locked, similar to our moon, meaning that one side always faces away from the sun. It could be that the side facing away from the sun would have cooled so much as to create a frozen surface of water, while all water from the other side boiled away. The craters on the inner side are caused by meteors, and they show only because there is no frozen ocean covering them, only bare crust.






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                  New contributor




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                  Just a shot in the dark, but the planet could be tidally locked, similar to our moon, meaning that one side always faces away from the sun. It could be that the side facing away from the sun would have cooled so much as to create a frozen surface of water, while all water from the other side boiled away. The craters on the inner side are caused by meteors, and they show only because there is no frozen ocean covering them, only bare crust.







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                  answered 10 hours ago









                  Joe FiotiJoe Fioti

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