forum How do I make a planet that’s hot on top but cold on the bottom?

Started January 19, 2022 by @Purple-Cat location_cityThe Worldbuilder

tune

I want a planet that’s cold on one end and hot on the other, so the middle can have varying seasons
But I’m not sure how to do that realistically, if it can be done like that at all.

Research Tidally Locked planets. That sounds exactly like what you’re going for.

Edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking
(Just to make it easier)

It seems like you could get a planet to be hot on one end but cold on the other by having a heat source on one side (e.g. a sun) and having the planet rotate on a perpendicular axis to the sun, where the hot top is rotating but always facing the sun and the cold bottom is also rotating, but never facing the sun.

The hard part is the varying seasons in the middle, I think.

But you might be able to accomplish that by introducing a "wobble" to the planet. Instead of the middle always being the same distance to the sun, you could have the planet "wobbling" on its axis, where various sides effectively tilt up a little bit towards the sun during their rotations, which might be enough to introduce the temperature variance you need for seasons. Planets that aren't perfectly spherical would have a bit of wobble to them.

You might also be able to get away with a funky hot moon that orbits almost-perfectly with your planet's rotation and provides heat to the middle, but doesn't keep perfectly in sync so it basically slowly migrates around the whole planet over time (for example, if the planet spins at like 1.1x rate the moon orbits).

Just some crazy thoughts. Maybe someone else has some better ideas though. :)

Edit: @Serpentess you're too fast :P

Lol!

These are really good ideas, i'll be sure to keep them in mind. Thanks!