Seasonbuilding 101: Axial Tilt

[@TheJklgamer]

You must have really enjoyed making this video if it allowed you to say "literally hell freezes over". Best quote from you yet.

[@Artifexian]

+TheJklgamer Haha super! I always enjoy making the videos...it's a super fun hobby to have and it's awesome chatting with you good people after the video goes live.

[@rawandhwayyiz4302]

@@Artifexian boy how time has changed :)

[@wesselstienstra7020]

Absolutely fascinating stuff. Especially the switched pole-equator positions are very interesting. You'd have two habitable zones with this barren, icy belt in between. It would take ages for peoples to finally get the technology to pass the polar belt and get their minds blown by the fact that people live on the other side

[@Artifexian]

+Wessel Stienstra Yup! Probably the most interesting thing about "switched" planets imo. Good observation. *tips fedora

[@ClaudiaCarranza1]

+Artifexian duuuuude! mind blown!

[@Artifexian]

+Claudia Carranza He's not just a handsome, pink starfish. He's an erudite, handsome, pink starfish! :D

[@Amozmusicmaker]

+Wessel Stienstra Except there won't be people living on the other side because these two zones are completely isolated from each other and follow a very different path in evolution. It would be plausible another intelligent species evolved there though, and it would be like discovering alien life on your own planet.

[@Cythil]

+Amozmusicmaker Depends. Maybe the equatorial ice barrier have been more hospitable in the past with a warmer period. Just like the ice sheets on Earths poles comes and goes. There might have been a time where there was a great migration between the regions. Then they got separated during a ice age.

[@GamingMeatBag]

I might have gotten this wrong, but it seems to me that the exchanged tropics and poles do not mean jungle in the poles and a frozen belt in the center. The Tropics further out and the poles so close to the equator means extreme seasons in the poles, and more forgiving seasons in the center. The sun would hit the equator directly still twice in the equinoxes, and for a bout half a year would be around that area.

[@rydude998]

This is easily one of the most underrated channels on KZbin, also one of me deep favorites. Please keep up the amazing work!

[@Artifexian]

+rydude998 Will do! Thanks for your kind words. Means a lot. :)

[@harry_page]

I'm reading the article on "Climate simulations in high obliquities" in the description and from what I can decipher, the polar and equatorial regions' climates switch roles at higher than 54 deg rather than 45 because of what it describes as a reorganisation of the global circulation, wherein the direction of winds are reversed, as are fronts of warm and cold air (on 23.5 deg Earth, warm air moves poleward. On 85 deg Earth, warm air instead moves equator-ward.) What I think it means is that the climates swap over not directly because of the way the planet receives sunlight but rather indirectly, because it changes the way air moves around the atmosphere. Also, high obliquity Earth would have huge temperature swings. While Africa and South America are sub-zero, most of North America, Europe and Asia gets roasted to 80 deg Celsius (176 deg Farenheit) every summer!

[@Stormingmonkey]

please please please do a video about a tidely locked planet! what kind of star it would orbit, where life could exist kind of temperatures on the hot and cold side distance from the star it would have to be all that fun stuff pleeeeaes!

[@KlaxontheImpailr]

I second that

[@starmax1000]

TheStormingmonkey I mean... A half permanent desert hellscape, the other half eternal darkness and in a small twilight ring between those two hells a small habitable zone... Good luck living there

[@haveiszalfaroqie1628]

It's actually a harsh planet to live at. In fact, Mercury is a tidally-locked planet.

[@Deathnotefan97]

Mercury isn't tidally locked, it's day is about 58 earth days, while it's year is about 88 earth days So there _is_ a day night cycle Fun fact: Based on it's orbit, rotation, and eccentricity, as Mercury approaches it's periapsis, the sun in the Mercurian sky would actually reverse it's direction for a time

[@limecyanizer4394]

@@haveiszalfaroqie1628 Mercury has a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, so it is not tidally locked.

[@LeNZian]

Aw yes, an episode on Game of Thrones seasons sounds good!

[@Artifexian]

+Smoates Super!

[@ParallelPenguins]

+Artifexian Yes I'd love to hear your take on the GOT seasons of weirdness!!

[@enkiimuto1041]

did he make one?

[@LeNZian]

No, not yet at least.

[@DracarmenWinterspring]

2:20 - do you mean 100-180? Thumbs up for a feasible ASOIAF season explanation! Also, are you going to talk about the speed of a planet's spin relative to its orbit? I find tidally locked planets (on one extreme edge of that scale) pretty interesting - I remember a sci-fi cartoon showing a planet like that having a thin band of habitable land (a 'twilight zone') between a half-planet that's permanently scorching and a half planet that's permanently frozen, and wondering how feasible that would be.

[@user-ft3jq5vi2l]

Considering the ridiculous amounts of wind that could ensue, climate would acttually be surprisingly varied. There would be very hot and wet land in the area directly under sunlight, followed by a broad band of deserts, then temperate and then finally cold (supposing it's in the mid-far habitable zone, too close and it would be the two sided stereotype). For wind patterns basically think of it as the rising hot air in the day side syphoning air from everywhere else.

[@LichfiendRazool]

My mate showed me this channel & it's helping me a ton with my own worldbuilding. I love high fantasy stuff & making funky things but I like having things that also make sense, if they interact with the weird & magical, I want to be able to explain exactly what is happening.

[@wilfred8391]

I'd love to see you make a system in universe sandbox, it gives you all kinds of data but you'll be able to see so much and it looks stunning

[@kompatybilijny9348]

Polar and Tropics do not switch. Poles will most likely freeze and melt periodically, as well as the equator. The equator will also experience two winters, when either pole is directed at the sun, and two summers in between those winters, when the planet is directed sideways to the star.

[@liampaiva5267]

The 0 or 180 degrees tilts could work for an Avatar the Last Airbender-like planet. It is said the four nations were based on the four seasons. So you have fire benders in the middle band, earth and air benders in the temperate bands and water benders in the polar bands. And, something like the swamp benders could certainly exist in tropical area within the fire-benders band.

[@Tetracarbon]

I was linked to you channel by Xidnaf (spelling?) and I am so glad. I'm not so interested in the fiction but the science and implications of your constant "what if" scenarios are incredibly entertaining and educational. Great work. I hope my educational channel lives up to your level some day!

[@NikolajLepka]

The flipping seasons thing blows my mind; I had no idea Thanks for the quality info as always! :D

[@Artifexian]

+Nikolaj Lepka Reality is hella trippy when you get down to it. No probs and thank you so much for watching!

[@dacriaxvgr]

This video helps me a lot! I'm trying to make a sci-fi world centered on an "Eyeball Planet" but im still debating on making it a tidally locked planet, or an extremely tilted planet. Maybe some astornomers in the chat or the man himself could help me decide the best course of action.

[@kylera2190]

Hell yeah man! GoT seasons are explained by magic alone but if you could explain it somehow that would be tight. IIRC, It's OK To Be Smart did a video and brought up that if Planetos orbited 3 suns that orbited each other the seasons would be unpredictable... But I don't really know, but I'd love to hear your take on it!

[@Artifexian]

+Kyler A Ye, there are a few videos knocking around on yt about GoT. I'll try and do a different take on the subject - not just rehash what's already out there.

[@jamesbohlman4297]

Excellent job Ed.

[@gadgetpatch9975]

Excellent vid as always, with a handy equation too. These have been a great starting point for different aspects of a generic star system sim I've got in the works. You should do astronomy consulting!

[@Artifexian]

+Solifuge Haha...I'm an enthusiastic amateur nothing more. Thanks for watching, buddy. Glad you enjoyed. Means a lot to have good folks like yourself watching me bang on about my niche little interests.

[@georgialloyd-roberts5804]

This was so therapeutic to watch.

[@tangerian319]

I've actually been working on a crazy solar tracker for a game i'm making, and I derived all the maths for the position of the star in the sky, only hiccup is the planetary eccentricity... Which is proving to be more complicated than anticipated

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

Also, in a world with an axial tilt of 90 degrees, could life evolve to deal with these harsh seasonal extremes? I mean, I've heard of animals hibernating throughout the winter (like bears), or migrating to where it's always more pleasant (like geese). Perhaps there could even be migratory organisms that take advantage of photosynthesis (like, say, migratory plants)?

[@vjorp5332]

I think plants would become a migratory species. Slowly walking around the plant making one round each year. Having 100% sunlight. Or they'd addapt in the same way a planet with high excentricity would.

[@DeyaViews]

There'd likely be vibrant life near the middle, which exists in near-perpetual twilight during summer and winter.

[@ColinPaddock]

Vjorp There’s a number of possible adaptations. Mobility is one. Some plants would almost certainly simply die at the end of their growing season, leaving tough seeds to germinate, grow and produce seeds themselves the next time conditions were amenable. Others might build up nutrient reserves, cyst up and survive the hard times in as torpid a state as possible. These are a few possibilities that occur to me. I’m sure smart creative people could come up with more, and given time evolution could produce lots more than that.

[@notherNappaghost]

I see that Battlestar Galactica reference you made there. Sneeeeaky.

[@NGXII]

This gives me an idea, what if you have a planet with, say, 75deg axial tilt, the area around the equator is an impassable ice field. two different species or civilizations live in the land mass around the poles. I've never taken a crack at world building before, but if someone were to use this idea and make something out of it, the interactions between these civilizations could get very interesting as technology improves to finally penetrate the icy equatorial wastelands

[@Artifexian]

+NGXII Definitely! Also, bare in mind that a similar situation could arise on a 0 tilt world. The equatorial regions could be a vast impassible desert, particularly if the planet is close to it's star and if the landmasses were concentrated around the equator.

[@maxfinazzo2443]

"all planets have axial tilt" Mercury: tf am I den?

[@mattw.6039]

Anyone know how to find/run the Seasons Interactive now that Flash Player is no longer supported?

[@sharperhenz90]

Love watching your videos! Let's hear that Westeros explaination!

[@Artifexian]

+Henry Zakay Cheers, Henry. Looks like the GoT video is a definite now. Lots of people seem to want it. :)

[@sharperhenz90]

Awesome! I can't wait for more wordbuilding! You should write a book kind of like the language construction kit on the subject, you explain it very well!

[@Retravox]

about the part where you said "...and, an earth year looks like this", what site where u on?

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Interesting flag. What's its meaning?

[@Lucas72928]

Awesome video, one of my favourites so far! Could you tell us what the couple next videos will be about?

[@Artifexian]

+LucasFlecoRepe I can't because I don't know yet. I would imagine a GoT video will be very soon...possible a part 2 to this video...some more linguistic stuff. See very often I start writing a script to a video and then realise that it's awful scrap it and start a different thing. Or I just wake up one morning and get an idea in my head and run with it. Not trying to be secretive, I honestly don't know. The only thing I can say for certain it that the next video will be a linguistic video.

[@Tentites]

How well could a habitable planet with 90 degree axial tilt do around a cooler K-class stars, or even a such a world orbiting in the habitable zone of a Red Dwarf star that may otherwise have been tidally locked? The orbital periods would be much shorter, so perhaps life could manage better on such worlds?

[@ShadowoftheDude]

Think you could make a video about building a planet whose seasons are caused by an elliptical orbit instead of axial tilt?

[@flirora]

And maybe also in addition to axial tilt, so temperature changes would be more extreme in one hemisphere than the other.

[@TimmacTR]

Where can we find the little program you show us that shows how the days would pass?

[@geoffreybrunell5592]

description

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

On a planet tilted at 90˚, at the poles the sun would be above the horizon for six months of the year and below for the other six, but unlike the poles of earth, the sun would be directly overhead at the summer solstice, and gradually spiral down until the equinox when it circles the horizon before disappearing. On the equator, however, the sun would circle the horizon on the solstices, giving a perpetual sunrise/sunset for several weeks, and the sun would gradually get a more diagonal orbit, until the equinox when the sun's movement is vertical and the sun is directly overhead at midday, but the equator would always have 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night, except for the few weeks around the solstices.

[@portal-oddities]

hey im just wondering, and im not sure if you'll see this since its such an old video, but do you have the interactive seasons w/ axial tilt link that doesn't require flash since its no longer supported? thank you in advance if you ever come around to it--

[@thorhasty484]

So I was really hoping to get my hands on the simulator so I could show my players how the day/night cycle worked on a game world. Looks like it might not be supported by modern browsers. Anyone have some solutions?

[@VulcanTrekkie45]

Correction: the tropic and arctic circles would meet at 45 degrees, and switch at any angle greater than that. What that means for the climate I'm not sure, but I think the reverse temperate zones (that is the region in which the tropics and the arctic regions overlap) would have extremely strong seasons.

[@Artifexian]

+Spencer O'Dowd Nice try, but I'm sticking by my 54 degree statement. From a previous comment reply: "That's what I thought, yet all the papers I've read mentioned 54 degrees as the tipping point. My thinking (although I've yet to find a source that confirms this) is that 45 degrees must be the theoretical tipping point but once you factor in things like the fact that planets aren't perfect spheres things get a bit fuzzy." Truth by told, I don't really understand why 54 degrees is the tipping point but all papers referenced it so who am I to argue with real scientists.

[@danielrhouck]

+Artifexian If it wasn’t your typo (or just a statement in a single source) it must be climate related. Midnight sun is a geometric property, as is the sun directly overhead. They would in fact switch at 45°.

[@ColinPaddock]

Artifexian Somewhere around 60°(maybe 54°, I cant precisely remember), the annual insolation at the poles begins to exceed the annual insolation at the equator. Not exactly the same thing, but related.

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

@@Artifexian, having looked quite a while for this, thank you for confirming this. Would you please make a new clip to explain why this is, and how the overlapping polar and tropical regions of a planet with an axial tilt of between 45° and 54° would effect its climate? Thank you :)

[@ClaudiaCarranza1]

I really enjoy your videos. i like fiction writing and table top rpgs so your vidoes on world building and conlang are super useful. muchisimas gracias!

[@Artifexian]

+Claudia Carranza No problem! Thanks a million for watching. Glad I can be of service.

[@donmeles7711]

Oh nooo, the Seasons Interactive site is not supported anymore, because of flash support. Does anyone have a replacement for this great sim?

[@markenangel1813]

in a 90 degree tilted world, the permanent day would actually be closer to a quarter year, because of those spring/autumn "normal" days in the middle.

[@jasonbarone5883]

Cool stuff. Yes I would love to see a Game of Thrones weather video.

[@JDiako97]

Actually with a 60 degree axial tilt the polar and tropical regions in the latitude between 30 and 60 degrees would overlap. That's because the tilt is so extreme that in those latitudes the sun would eventually be overhead and in the solstices would have 24 hours day in the summer and 24 hours night the winter. So it's like being polar and tropical at the same time.

[@wanderingrandomer]

Yes, that's what I was gonna point out. I'm trying to work out wind patterns for a high tilt world, and to say the poles 'switch' is kinda misleading; they overlap, as you say. Within the band where the poles and tropics overlap I can imagine the wildest temperature swings being.

[@Lucy-ng7cw]

Anyone know any books with an icy equator

[@cameoshadowness7757]

No, I'm trying to find one but I don't think anyone made one yet. I'm about to, if I cN0an't find one!

[@Lucy-ng7cw]

Cameo Shadowness Well if you feel like it let me know if you do

[@cameoshadowness7757]

+Lucy Hunt I will!

[@Lucy-ng7cw]

Cameo Shadowness I will too

[@cameoshadowness7757]

+Lucy Hunt Great!

[@alsmith2064]

What would happen to the tropic and Arctic lines on a planet more than 90 degrees? What would the physical geography and temperature be (if it was habitable)?

[@sumayyakhan4012]

What’s the phylogenetic relationship between axial Tilt of Earth and eye

[@NanashiHuy]

is it possible for a planet with a 90 degree axial tilt to have a tital lock where one of the pole will always face the sun and the other doesn't? IF possible, can this planet spin like usual?

[@OtakuNoShitpost]

You didn't directly address it, but I take it that after 90 degrees of tilt, everything starts to be a mirror of the pre-90 tilts? I.e. habitable for everything over 100 degrees?

[@hcesarcastro]

I wonder what happens to the climate of a planet in some specific conditions. Sadly I could not test them in Seasons Interactive, since you can change the planet axial tilt but not the planet coordinates. For example, it is mentioned that with an axial tilt greater than 54 degrees, the equatorial region experiences polar conditions and vice-versa. Why 54 degrees? (Or is it just a typo, should be 45? Or is it an aproximation?) Moreover, what happens in this limiting condition where the climate conditions change? Would there seasons still exist? And with an axial tilt of exactly 45 degrees, where the tropics and the polar circles converge?

[@Sabersonic]

Well this video certainly gives more information on a planet's obliquity and especially how it would affect life upon a planet, certainly more than what GURPS ever did with its dice roll outcome. Especially the axial tilt range for carbon-based life as we know it to make it habitable. I can only assume that said axial tilt range would vary between different biochemical life forms.As for the Prograde and Retrograde, well as far as I can tell the direction to which the parent star rises and sets upon a planet doesn't have that much impact on the development of life, let alone sapient life, and appears largely cosmetic or am I missing something?

[@Artifexian]

+Sabersonic Yes, I'm with you on that, it's all cosmetic. The habitable zone would vary depending on the lifeforms in question. :)

[@oiman5733]

This stuff is very interesting indeed (I'm concurring to the first thing that +Wessel Stienstra said in his/her comment). But could we have a video about tectonic plates, and their effect on a planet's geography (and by extension, it's culture(s) )?

[@Xob_Driesestig]

Quick question: it is common for terrestrial planets to be tidal locked with their star (red dwarf) but at what distance is this not a problem anymore? (I'm trying to build a planet around a red dwarf ( it has a mass of about half of the earth and about the same density)

[@Artifexian]

+xbob Driesestig Around Red dwarf stars, yes. I can't really given you exact distances, there's too many variables involved. Essentially, for a planet to be "free" of tidal lock you want the linked equation to spit out numbers upwards of hundreds of millions of years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Timescale But again, planets around red dwarfs stars that orbit within the habitable zone will most likely be tidally locked. There's no way out of it.

[@Xob_Driesestig]

Thanks for replying! Here's an idea, can I perhaps make it tidally locked with a large moon so I can still have a day night cicle?

[@martijnbouman8874]

+xbob Driesestig I don't think so; I suspect the star would draw away any moon from a tidally locked planet.

[@powerhouseofthecell9758]

How about giving it an eccentric orbit, so it librates?

[@Lucas72928]

5:50 How would the band thickness change in relation to the distance from the planet to it's parent star?

[@Artifexian]

+LucasFlecoRepe Ooh, now I could be wrong on this (if so, please correct me, internet) but my immediate thought is that the thickness wouldn't change but the intensity of light received there would. So, a close in planet would experience arid conditions in the band (deserts perhaps) and a more distant planet would experience more tropical conditions (jungles etc). Same thickness different solar heating. I think...don't quote me on this.

[@Lucas72928]

Artifexian Nice, didn't think of that, but I think it would be a combination of both. IDK

[@Pingijno]

Will you check out comments below the previous videos as well? I remember pointing out one mistake in one of your Conlanging videos. :P & Excellent work as always, Mr Edgar!

[@Artifexian]

+Pingijno Possibly, but going over ALL the previous videos would take a lot of time. Time I would rather put into getting newer content out. That said, I do keep an eye on comments under previous videos...if any total howlers crop up they will be fixed. But from this point on every video will have a corrections section.

[@Pingijno]

+Artifexian Alright! I've known a KZbinr who will make additional videos including commentators' questions and issues after almost every main production. o:

[@Artifexian]

+Pingijno Actually, you know that's not a bad idea. I could address things in a more informal manner that way. Hmm...you've got me thinking. Leave it with me.

[@otherwords1375]

At 2:23, shouldn't the legal interval be between 100 and 180? 100 gives you the same angular distance as 80 from the x-axis (-10, plus 10 from a 90 degree rotation). 110 doesn't give symmetry about a mirror-reflection.

[@wanderingrandomer]

So, what would happen at the sweet spot where the angle of axial tilt is just so that the poles and tropics fall on the same (or very close) latitudes? Would they cancel out, or would they compound upon each other for crazy weather?

[@loudspeaker237]

+WanderingRandomer So at 45 degrees? My guess would be a type of temerate zone, where it is both warm and cold because of weather patterns created in the respective zones, not because of the amount of sunlight they get.

[@noahgreer1497]

What about 45-54° or simply less than 54° degree tilt? What if a planet can't decide where the tropics and arctics go?

[@gracebartel3294]

What if instead of the sun a world had a ring like saturn’s? Assuming it’s cold enough and far enough away not to burn people to a crisp, what would the seasons look like? Could you possible manipulate the tilts of the world and the ring to mimic livable conditions?

[@burtonlang]

Is variable tilt possible? For example, could a northern hemisphere have eternal summer, while the southern has an eternal winter? Or, for example, could the tilt wobble, so that the season cycle repeats over the course of the year?

[@Artifexian]

+Alex Bicksler Yes, Earth's tilt varies about 2 degrees over the course of a 41,000 year cycle - we call this a Milankovitch cycle. It's not beyond the realms of possibly to conceive of a planet that has a rapidly accelerated Milankovitch cycle. Dropping the planets moon (and so it's stabilizing effects) would help bringing a bit of chaos into the cycle. I'd hasten to point out that such a world, with it's rapidly changing axial tilt would be devastating to live on.

[@ynntari2775]

"0° to 180°" Venus: Hey!

[@themushroominside6540]

So civilizations an a 54 degree tilt world would be separated by a equatorial band of arctic if there are two land masses on its poles. it would be very interesting if that was the case once we discover new worlds

[@junkbucket50]

This was epic. Thanks for making the video

[@h.cschannel]

someone correct me but he says the poles switch at 54 and up but shouldn't they switch at 45 and up?

[@bensmith2951]

What side did you find this, I'm trying to find it

[@Abotekap]

If a planet is tilted by more than 45 degrees(you said 54) the situation does not reverse. The difference is that some parts of the planet would experience both polar night and day and the sun facing towards them.

[@PhoenixFlame321]

Shouldn't the Equatorial regions of a planet with a high yet non-90º tilt experience regular temperate seasons? I mean, twice every year it's equator would be aligned with the star, causing the sun to sweep overhead (Summer Seasons) while twice every year the poles would be aligned with the sun, causing the sun to straddle near the horizon at the equatorial regions (Winter Season) while the polar and temperate regions would be exposed to either solar hell or night hell. Honestly, if you make a planet with one giant continent on one pole, a continuous ocean on the other, and islands around the equator, you could have a world with a habitable equator and everywhere else would be a wasteland of extremes.

[@lachlan7181]

Another great video mate!

[@decodr-ring]

Info-nugget: 90 degrees minus 23.4 is 66.6 degrees. So the triple-six is the complement of Earth’s axial tilt relative to a perpendicular of the ecliptic plane. Excelsior! 🌍

[@KlaxontheImpailr]

What about planets that wobble on their axis? I made an alien race from a world with constant windstorms and I heard having a wobbly axis would cause that.

[@YYHoe]

90° tilt worlds? There's something similar in the Solar System! (Uranus. Tilt of either 82° or 98° because spin direction is unknown.)

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

In a world with an axial tilt of 90 degrees, wouldn't the equator be the most stable zone, since it receives equal amounts of day and night all year long?

[@bydgoszczgang]

Is the intro written in ogham?

[@lukasbruunpedersen652]

Amazing content, Edgar! Thank you so much for all the work you do. It's proven very useful in my endeavour to build a world from scratch! I have a question relating to axial tilt and albedo. After having been building along to your videos, I've ended up with a star 1.1 the size of our sun, with a planet 0.7 Earth's mass, situated at a distance of 1.20 AU from the star. Plotting those numbers into the albedo calculator from your video on albedo, I end up with a very frigid planet compared to Earth. As I understand it, I can do the following to put my world closer to the average global temperature of Earth: either a) put my world's orbit closer to the star (by which point it comes dangerously close to the inner edge of the habitable zone (1.14 AU), not sure if that would be a big issue as long as the eccentricity of the orbit is low), or b) increase the axial tilt of my world to one higher than Earth's, at which point there will be less humidity -> less cloud cover -> lower albedo -> higher average temperature. If choosing option b, how do I determine how high the axial tilt should be? Is there a way to know what effect an axial tilt of, say, 26 degrees would have on the planets cloud cover, albedo, temperature, and climate in general? Do you (or anyone else reading this comment) know of any resources to consult that could help me determine this? My only other option, the way I see it, is to make the star much closer to the mass of our sun, i.e. stray less from the already paved path of Earth's parameters.

[@jerry3790]

When the sun is directly overhead there are no shadows for objects on the ground and it looks really weird

[@danielrhouck]

I’m confused why you listed the point where the arctic circles and tropic circles switch as 54° instead of 45° degrees. Was it a typo, or was it something about weather instead of about the official definitions involving midnight sun or directly-overhead sun? At 45° those lines are the same line, and at greater than 45° they are switched, but I am not sure what that would do to weather.

[@danielrhouck]

+Daniel Houck Having looked at other comments, and searched the paper you linked for the number 54, it appears that 54° is indeed a climate issue: at that tilt, the poles would be warmer than the equator on average. They will have winter periods where they are in nighttime for days on end, because they are still in the polar regions, and the equator would still sometimes have the sun directly overhead while the poles wouldn’t, but on average the poles would be warmer. I don’t think this could possibly give rise to *any* Earthlike climates, though.

[@amehak1922]

whats that program you use to figure out the climate?

[@werdwar3301]

When the poles and equator switch, one of the poles (now equitorial) would only receive direct sunlight for half of the year right?

[@michaelmartinez7658]

This is a very fascinating video. I'm working on a planet right now and this definitely helped me out. However, I have a quick question. I have a planet who has an axial tilt of 1.5 degrees, which is practically zero. However, it also has a moon that is quite big and quite close. It's just outside the roche limit of the planet and it has a Geosynchronous orbit, which means that the moons orbit and the planets rotational period is equivalent. Also, the moon practically hovers at coordinates, (0, 0), where the equator and the prime meridian meet. The moon's shadow extends 30 degrees north and south of the equator, covering the supposed heat band the planet would have if the moon didn't exist. And yes, the moon causes a daily eclipse with a rotational period of 11 hours and the planets orbital period is 8 earth days. How would this effect the planet as a whole temperature wise?

[@parthiancapitalist2733]

Is it possible for a planet to change its tilt throughout a year

[@willayres4670]

No, I don't think so

[@willayres4670]

Wait, actually I take it back. A wobbly axis can indeed exist

[@therandomhat_]

Yes, especially if there's been a large collision in the past!

[@debbierometo6601]

Can the axiel tilt ever change? Or could it?

[@theshowgun5114]

what kind of worlds do you build?

[@aionval2734]

Would someone explain me what would happen when the axial tilt is 45 degrees? The tropics and arctic circles would be equal. That's Madness.

[@naimaware]

Can you explain the seasons of game of thrones?

[@DrawnByDandy]

For switched worlds with a tilt of over 54 degrees, would the equator get the 1+ day of total darkness/light on the solstices, or the poles?

[@Traventine]

Do moons have the 5 major lines of latitude too? (Besides equator, it obviously has that.)

[@ashtarbalynestjar8000]

Are you going to make a video on asteroid belts?

[@jacksonpurdie9469]

Are you going to be doing episodes on alien life?

[@Artifexian]

+Jackson Purdie The idea of the channel is to cover everything needed to construct a fully fleshed out fictional setting. So, yes...but it'll be a LONG time before I'm ready to talk about alien life. Alas, I am but one dude.

[@bradywb98]

+Artifexian you should recruit some artisty and video edity friends so that you can focus on research and script writing :)

[@Artifexian]

+Brady Burnsides Oh, man, would that I could. I'm totally happy working for free but I'm not a slave driver - I don't want to make others work for me, for free. People talk about "making it" on youtube in terms of popularity and fame and wealth. My goal in "making it" would be to have the channel generate enough income that I could hire a small team to help get the videos out quicker whilst maintaining a high quality of content. The ideal set up would be myself, a adept writer, and a video editor but this is most definitely a pipe-dream.

[@bradywb98]

Don't give up on the dream man haha we're rooting for you!

[@sammyspan649]

1 Wrong alone from March 22 through September 21 Northern hemisphere would be in direct sunlight in Spring temperature would be 21°C in the summer temperatures would be as high as 49°C From September 22 through March 21 temperatures in the autumn would be 19°C in winter temperatures would be a measly -33°C very very cold especially in January and February

[@SuperTheUberCatGirl]

How would you find the poles and tropics on a torus planet?

[@ColinPaddock]

VinBoiTV The pole, like the magic, is in the hole. You would, however have a northernmost circle, a southernmost circle and inner and outer latitudes. Mapping would be fun. A simple rectangular map could represent it accurately so long as you remember that the top and bottom are connected the same way as the left and right sides.

[@ColinPaddock]

VinBoiTV The outer surface you’d treat essentially the same as a sphere. The inner surface… would be more complicated. You’d have to take self-shadowing into account, and for anything other than a 90° obliquity, you’d have a band that’s permanently shadowed.

[@BewareTheCarpenter]

This really was useful for world building. I do not watch Game of Thrones because I've heard many places it's very heavy on porn/ sex/ rape scenes; though I would be interested if you could justify a planet having 100 years of winter and remaining habitable.

[@kellergie2602]

So this might be a silly question, but does this mean that it would be impossible for a planet to exist where winter has the longer days and summer has the shorter days?

[@ColinPaddock]

Kellergie If you combine axial tilt with a high eccentricity, you could have one hemisphere where the hot season has shorter days and the cold season has longer days. The other hemisphere will have an extremely hot summer and a very cold winter, though.

[@derkr972]

Would a planet's orbital inclination have any effect on the seasons, or just the axial tilt?

[@noahgreer1497]

At what tilt do I get the biggest temperate zones?

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

Probably with a very small tilt. Apply the method he mentioned to draw the tropics and polar latitudes to a world tilted 3 degrees. The area of the tropics will be very small, and most of the latitudes would be temperate.

[@jongalonja9233]

I've got an issue with when the polar and equatorial bands switch after 45° tilt. I don't think the assessment that "the equator would be frozen and the poles would be tropical" is accurate. For one not only would seasons still happen but they'd be extreme. If anything the equator would be the most temperate part of the entire planet as at any given time of the year exactly half of it is illuminated, and exactly half of it isn't. The "polar" band around the equator would experience seasons however. So the equator would be permanently quite mild and the bands around it seasonal. Definitely not a frozen band around the planet, I don't think. The real craziness happens around this "polar" band around the equator. The pols would be the most extreme as they would spend about half the year in perpetual mid-day sun while the other half-ish of the year would be perpetual midnight. I have no idea what that would do to the climate but I imagine that the poles would spend about a third of the year a frozen wasteland, another third of the year as a blistering desert and the last third (split into tow sixths) in a more-or-less temperate climate as it transitions between the two. Definitely an interesting world to think about.

[@concibar4267]

I now want a 180° world, where civilization has to be nomadic in order to follow the habitable line of the day/night divide. The entire ecosystem would have to move at all times, plants being in slumber for 99% of the time and bursting out of the earth for the blink of temperate climate. Plants have to reproduce rapidly, cloning reproduction would be more common (see Aphids). Or we just get ourselves a nice bunch of rings to spend some shadow during summer. :)

[@sansactionl5723]

i really love this channel, not many people are interested in it doh :s

[@Artifexian]

+sansaction l Ye, Worldbuilding is a very very niche thing. I don't ever expect this channel to get big. Which is cool, popularity isn't always the name of the game.

[@Enderbrine186]

You should team up with alternate history hub dude it would like be awesomeeeeee!!!

[@Enderbrine186]

+CopyRight Knight not taking it back.

[@kuyaleinad4195]

Would an Earth like planet with an axial tilt of 90 degrees and an orbit around the star of just 2 days be possible and habitable? I mean it's just 1 day of day and 1 day of night which wouldn't be long.

[@ioratv]

that would kind of be like 0 degrees axial tilt

[@KlaxontheImpailr]

...I think you should watch his vid about hot jupiters

[@AstraPlanetshine]

Thank you this has helped me a lot with the world (moon and gas giant) i am building at 48.8 degrees! = )

[@TAB_100]

Did you make a game of thrones video?

[@YYHoe]

When u said 54°, u meant 45°, right?

[@devon5714]

Wouldn't the 60° world just have the tropics and arctic circles overlap, rather than switch places?

[@silvercomic]

The seasons in Game of Thrones are my bane. In various nerddom areas people speculate about it. I am however certain I've seen a comment by GRRM somewhere that discounted all sorts of scientific explanations fans have asked him about, and he said it was definitely because of magic. Except; I can't find the damn quote anymore.

[@Artifexian]

+silvercomic Ye, it's common knowledge at this stage that they are caused by magic. But it never hurts to speculate or at the very least use the GoT seasons as a springboard to other interesting topics.

[@silvercomic]

+Artifexian I've made a post on in a bit more detail on reddit a while back by the way, which you might be interested in. www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/37fy17/question_how_is_a_year_defined_in_game_of_thrones/crmedig

[@MarkMetEenC]

+silvercomic +Artifexian you could have a system of three pretty much equally massive objectjs orbitimg eachother. that would be unpredictable

[@Artifexian]

+silvercomic "Perhaps you could do the same with certain stars on the firmament?" You definitely could, just use the background stars as a reference.

[@Artifexian]

+Marc D (MarkwithaC) It would but there are easier ways of bringing predicability into the equation, without needing to generate more bodies. AFAIK there is no mention of any other significant bodies in A Song of Ice of Fire.