May 21, 2008
The universe does not repeat itself. Every sunrise is unique, every snowflake singular, and every birthday yours alone.
A Dangerous Sunrise on Gliese 876d
Birthday · May 21, 2008
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APOD published May 21, 2008. Credit: Inga Nielsen (Hamburg Obs., Gate to Nowhere). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
On planet Gliese 876d, sunrises might be dangerous. Although nobody really knows what conditions are like on this close-in planet orbiting variable red dwarf star Gliese 876, the above artistic illustration gives one impression. With an orbit well inside Mercury and a mass several times that of Earth, Gliese 876d might rotate so slowly that dramatic differences exist between night and day. Gliese 876d is imagined above showing significant volcanism, possibly caused by gravitational tides flexing and internally heating the planet, and possibly more volatile during the day. The rising red dwarf star shows expected stellar magnetic activity which includes dramatic and violent prominences. In the sky above, a hypothetical moon has its thin atmosphere blown away by the red dwarf's stellar wind. Gliese 876d excites the imagination partly because it is one of the few extrasolar planets known to be close to the habitable zone of its parent star.
Image credit: Inga Nielsen (Hamburg Obs., Gate to Nowhere)