Cosmic Embrace: Tides Shaping Distant Worlds
Trapped in Time: How Tidal Locking Shapes Exoplanet Landscapes Imagine a world where the same side always faces its star, bathed in perpetual sunlight while the other remains eternally shrouded in darkness. This isn't science fiction; it's the reality for many exoplanets, victims of a cosmic phenomenon known as tidal locking. Tidal locking occurs when the gravitational forces between an orbiting celestial body and its host star are strong enough to synchronize their rotations. Think of Earth's moon – always showing us the same face because its rotation period matches its orbital period around our planet. The same principle applies on a grander scale with exoplanets. But this seemingly simple phenomenon has profound consequences for these distant worlds. A World...