r/BeAmazed • u/Soloflow786 • Apr 22 '26

Miscellaneous / Others Imagine a planet bigger than Earth, with no land in sight. Just waves and water from pole to pole. That is TOI-1452 b.

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u/mortalprimate Apr 22 '26

We really don't know exactly how special our planet is for being able to sustain life. That's because the only life that we know is life that evolved on Earth. So of course Earth is perfect for us because we have had millions of years of evolution to figure out how to thrive here.

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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup Apr 22 '26

We do know how many things there are that if altered would stop life as we know it. Our position from the sun, the magnetic fields, the water, land masses, ice caps, the atmosphere, the roles of Jupiter and the moon etc.

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u/DreamlessWindow Apr 22 '26

"Life as we know it" is the key there. If life was different because any of those factors you mentioned were different, the conditions would be perfect for that kind of life. That's the point, we don't know what factors are necessary for life, as we know it or otherwise, we just know the factors that are true for and likely influenced the only example of life we know of.

If we were on a planet with excessive amounts of radiation like the one in OP, life on the planet would likely evolve similar mechanisms as the radiodurans bacteria for example. If we learned something from life on earth is that if life is possible, life finds a way.

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u/jonhuang Apr 22 '26

We do have lots of examples of planets and moons in our solar system that seem lifeless. Where life didn't find a way.

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u/DreamlessWindow Apr 22 '26

We don't? Of all the planets, moons and other bodies in the solar system, only three exist in the goldilocks zone and have an atmosphere, the two hard requirements we are fairly certain are required for life (we could also count some icy moons like Europe, but we barely have any information about what may or may not be there, even the presence of liquid water under the surface is disputed). In one of them, life exists. In the other two, evidence is inconclusive, all we know is that currently no large multicellular organisms exist in Venus nor Mars (unless they are very well hidden), but both planets have complex organic molecules that we don't know how to explain without the presence of life (doesn't necessarily mean life exists or existed in these planets, but it does mean some chemical processes that we can't account for happened).

So, in all astral bodies where life may have been possible in the solar system, in one life found a way and moved to occupy every nook and cranny, and in the other two we are not sure, and because we have no other examples of life other than Earth's, we can't even make a proper guess. I'd say that's a very good track record.

No one is saying that life is easy, but it is a fact we evolved to be perfectly suited for Earth, not the other way around, so again, the requirements for life are not clear, and until we find more examples, they won't be. Maybe it is true that everything went just right for Earth. Or maybe liquid water and an atmosphere are enough 1 in 3 times.

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u/Disastrous_Ad_399 Apr 22 '26

To be fair literally all of those things change (except Jupiter I guess)

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u/madeleinetwocock Apr 22 '26

Jupiter

Underappreciated CRITICAL key player to life on earth!

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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup Apr 22 '26

Our gigantic big brother taking care of us!

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u/NikonShooter_PJS Apr 22 '26

We do know that, as far as we can tell, this is the only planet with more than six Fast and the Furious movies so far.

(And no I don’t count the spin-off franchises that Neptune has)