You know you have it when you look for a reason why these twins aren't twins [where is it]
Explorer Nerd Syndrome
- Thread starter Rooster Podunk
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Thanks. As you can tell I can OCD a puzzle even if their isn't a puzzle. Cheers, commander!
That one on the right looks like it might be breathable. Not pleasant, but enough to keep you alive. The partial pressure of the CO2 is about 0.918% of an Earth atmosphere, which isn't lethal, but it will feel "stuffy" and make you drowsy. The O2's partial pressure is only about 16% of an Earth atmosphere, which is breathable, but without being conditioned for it you might feel like you have altitude sickness, or at least light-headed.
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You're right about the 16% figure, but to add some context, Earth's atmosphere is ~21% oxygen, so we breathe oxygen at 0.21 atmospheres partial pressure, the 16% partial pressure translates to ~ 3/4 of that on Earth. This should translate to about 2.5km altitude on Earth http://www.pdas.com/atmosTable2SI.html the lower gravity might help with that. If wikipedia is to be believed, then prolonged exposure to that level of CO2 is probably bad, even if it wont kill you in the short term. But a few more plants and it should be fine.
There are in fact a number of differences that could lead to significant changes, the axial tilt for instance would lead to one hemisphere of one body being hotter/colder for a much longer period than the other. The argument of periapsis is also quite extreme for one of the bodies, leading to significant differences again in the way the bodies are heated by the sun, this would in turn lead to differences in the way life develops and could lead to the different balance of gases in the atmosphere. We can't ignore the changes that minor differences can make over millions of years on the evolution of the life forms of the respective bodies and how they affect the atmosphere.
We also can't ignore that many of the branch points that send any given biosphere down a metabolic pathway leading to an effect on the atmospheric composition of the planet will be completely independent of orbital parameters.
Wow, fellas, thanks. I need to pull out my Cambridge astronomy book to look some of that up but being a nerd I won't be able to help myself. I really appreciate the tips and pointers of ways to look at things. 
