Twin Planets - would life be possible at the smaller of twin planets slowly revolving around each other?

[Johan Christiaens]

A few years ago, I wrote an email to the People's Observatory 'Mira' in my native Belgium, asking about life conditions on a planet with the following characteristiscs: it is the smaller of two planets (the bigger one is 4 times its size) orbiting a Sun-like star at a distance of approx. 1 astronomical unit. The planets revolve around each other extremely slowly - it takes 282 years to go full circle. I got an answer saying this situation was entirely possible, and that, as I predicted, temperatures on the smaller planet might drop down to -150 °C for a period of months every 282 years. If life could develop there, and if humans could survive on this planet, was left unanswered - the astronomer said I should ask biologists about that, not astronomers.


Thanks for reading this.

 

[Catastrophe]

Apart from the odd detail, this sounds suspiciously like the Earth - Moon system.

Thank you for posting this (especially in perfect English).

Is there a particular reason for you question?

Cat