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EPISODE · Oct 24, 2026 · 11 MIN

Eyeball Earths

from Cool Worlds · host Cool Worlds

Earth-sized planets found in the habitable-zones of low-mass stars are likely to become tidally locked to the star, with one side baked in perpetual sunlight and other trapped in an eternal night. These so-called "Eyeball Earths" turn out to be extremely common and some famous examples include Proxima b and the planets around TRAPPIST-1. Here, we explain why this tidal locking happens and what it means for the potential habitability of these alien worlds.::More about this Video::► "Discovery of a Planet around our Nearest Star: Proxima b" Cool Worlds video by Dr Guillem Anglada: https://youtu.be/59ClESB1AqA► "Proxima b: Transits, Habitability & How to Get There!" Cool Worlds video by Prof Kipping: https://youtu.be/tcc635lNRwY► Gillon et al. (2017), "Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7642/full/nature21360.html► Video of zonal winds on a tidally locked planet taken from Merlis & Schneider (2010), "Atmospheric dynamics of Earth-like tidally locked aquaplanets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1001.5117► Leconte et al. (2015), "Asynchronous rotation of Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone of lower-mass stars": http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6222/632► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! ヅ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Oct 24, 2026

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Eyeball Earths

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This episode was published on October 24, 2026.

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