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Old 03-14-2020, 11:32 AM   #23
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: [Space] Climate & habitability of tide-locked planets

Quote:
Originally Posted by Agemegos View Post

The equator and terminator are great circles, so they intersect at two points. The subsolar point stays very close to the equator because the tidal effects that reduce rotation rate also reduce obliquity. So however I draw a map, indeed whether I draw one or not, one of the intersections of the terminator and the equator is to the east of the subsolar point and the other is to the west of it. That is, using “east” and “west” in their usual senses, as the planetary scientists who study and model these planets and hypothetical planets do..
I did in fact mean the subsolar point when I said "east pole" and it seems to me the that the place to put the terminator on a tide locked planet would be running through the subsolar point and of course it's opposite.
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