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
and a mass several times that of Earth,
Gliese 876d might
rotate so slowly that dramatic differences exist between night and day.
is imagined above showing significant
volcanism, possibly caused by
gravitational tides flexing and
internally heating the planet,
and possibly more volatile during the day.
star shows expected stellar
magnetic activity which includes
In the sky above, a hypothetical moon has its
thin atmosphere blown away by the red dwarf's
Gliese 876d excites the
imagination partly because it is one of the few
known to be
near to the
habitable zone of its parent star.