If that’s true, how did Olympus mons get there in the first place? I thought it was a volcano.
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CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoThe problem is you can’t have mountains like that on tectonically active planets (a mountain that big on earth would sink into the mantle), which is kind of a prequisite for a long-term magnetosphere so its unfortunately not something a species could likely ever have except as a result of terraforming a world like mars and setting up some kind of artificial magnetosphere.
Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 3 weeks ago
arrow74@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Mars was geologically active but its core cooled.
cogitase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Is there a lower density limit for having a magnetosphere though? A habitable planet with 1.5x earth radius and the same mass would be much easier to get off of.
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I guess that could work? Earth is actually the densest planet in the solar system so our baseline mass > size ratio might actually be a bit abnormal.
MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I was sure you were bullshitting, but no. Its true.
Iron and nickel core + enough mass for gravity to start compress the planed and we are just little more dense than Mercury.
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Our core is also just huge, the outer core is larger than the moon and mercury.