Close exoplanets often tidally lock one face toward their star
On very short orbits, a star’s gravity can torque a planet until one hemisphere permanently faces the star — the same tidal lock that keeps Earth’s Moon showing one face to us.
That geometry creates a scorching dayside and a frigid nightside unless thick winds or an ocean redistribute heat. Habitable-zone red-dwarf planets are especially prone to locking because their wet orbits sit so close in.
Eternal noon is not automatically lethal. Climate models ask whether twilight belts or global circulation can still keep liquid water somewhere.
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