Loading...

The last two factors produce a new type of Woldilocks zone where a planet must have a small enough amount of volatiles, mostly oxygen, to develop a large metallic core and then a geodynamo. But there also has to be enough volatile to develop life when a planet stabilizes. So the last factor in determining whether a planet can support life is its heat engine. And this is produced by either radiation in the core or by tidal heating. Just drop it.