[TML] Alien ecologies

[Robert O'Connor]

Jerry Barrington wrote:
> I'm not sure it's all that helpful.

I disagree. From the article linked:
> Light of any color from deep violet through the near-infrared could power photosynthesis.
 > Around stars hotter and bluer than our sun, plants would tend to 
absorb blue light
 > and could look green to yellow to red. Around cooler stars such as 
red dwarfs,
 > planets receive less visible light, so plants might try to absorb as 
much of it as
 > possible, making them look black.

Limits and the reason for them are described.

> Look at Earth: chlorophyll, the main photosynthesizing pigment, 
 > does *not* have it's best absorption where the sun has it's best 
emissions.

At the Earth's surface, the spectrum of light available for chlorophyll 
to intercept is fairly well matched to its absorption spectrum.

> We just don't know enough to generalize.

The article describes constraints based on what is known about 
spectrophotochemistry and radiation physics. It sets (albeit pretty 
wide) limits to the potential possibilities.

Quality handwaves - articles like the one linked helps build them.


Robert O'Connor
medico, gamer