A planet where one half is scorched at temperatures up to 2,000 Kelvin and the other half is colder than any spot on Earth might still have a shot at hosting life, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The planet in question, LHS 3844b, sits 48.5 light years away and never rotates the way Earth does, it always shows the same face to its star, leaving one side in eternal daylight and the other in permanent, bone-chilling darkness.
That kind of extreme split-personality climate would normally be written off as a dead end for biology. But the new research, published in Nature Communications, suggests the planet's own geology may be quietly working in life's favour by moving heat around under the surface.
