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Would you explode the moon?!

Joe12345

By Joe12345
in The Astro Lounge

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
Posted

The moon brings my weekends! We work right through the dark time, seven days a week (I'll 'ave you in tears!!!) and then out it comes and we get all our missing weekends back in one go. Marvellous. And, let's be honest, it's really quite nice, isn't it? Very important for poets, too. Let's not forget about those romanitic souls...

Olly

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ArmyAirForce

ArmyAirForce

Posted
Posted

I've got another option. Again, no nasty side effects desired, but how about a compromise. Shift the Moon into quite an elliptical orbit around the Earth. It would still be there to see, sometimes close and bright, sometimes far away and dim. We'd have the excitement of it getting closer, brighter and easier to see details, just like planet oppositions, but when it is much further away, we'd have lots of long dark nights ( when it's not cloudy of course! ).

My vote is to keep it, but change its orbit.

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Paul M

Paul M

Posted
Posted

Better to blow up Earth and move to the Moon - no light pollution. :hello2:

Not such a silly idea!

Moving to the Moon might have its difficulties but blowing up Earth has seemed almost inevitable at some points in recent decades... 

Sorry, I just pooped on the party atmosphere!! :)

EDIT:

I know we're 'avin a laugh. I love the silly threads, but...

It does surprise me how many fellow sky watchers have it in for the the Moon!

In my view (summing up for the defense) there are fewer more stunning sights than a super thin crescent Moon, strongly Earth lit, hanging among a cluster of morning or evening planets. Just like we had recently in the dawn sky.

Now THAT is sky watching...

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Knight of Clear Skies

Knight of Clear Skies

Posted
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Not really an advisable plan. The Moon has kept the Earth's axial tilt fairly constant over hundreds of millions of years. Without it the Earth could eventually be tipped over onto its side like Uranus, resulting in six month days and nights (see point 5), resulting in even more complaints than daylight saving schemes. (And also eradicating almost all complex life.)

nutation-600x286.jpg

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goodricke1

goodricke1

Posted
Posted

In fairness the OP did point out that his plan assumed no side-effects for the Earth. And it's an open question whether or not the Moon has been of any benefit to us; with a sample size of one we just don't know what part a large satellite plays in the appearance of life.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
Posted

In fairness the OP did point out that his plan assumed no side-effects for the Earth. And it's an open question whether or not the Moon has been of any benefit to us; with a sample size of one we just don't know what part a large satellite plays in the appearance of life.

The usual argument is that the evolutionary timescale is slow and needs the right level of stability to reach high levels of complexity. But, as you say, with a sample of one we would see it that way!

Olly

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barkis

barkis

Posted
Posted

Not such a silly idea!

Moving to the Moon might have its difficulties but blowing up Earth has seemed almost inevitable at some points in recent decades... 

Sorry, I just pooped on the party atmosphere!! :)

EDIT:

I know we're 'avin a laugh. I love the silly threads, but...

It does surprise me how many fellow sky watchers have it in for the the Moon!

In my view (summing up for the defense) there are fewer more stunning sights than a super thin crescent Moon, strongly Earth lit, hanging among a cluster of morning or evening planets. Just like we had recently in the dawn sky.

Now THAT is sky watching...

Ah!, methinks you are a Romantic. 

Nothing wrong with that of course, and indeed you describe the crescent moon well, the dark bit bathed 

in soft reflected sunlight, courtesy of our lovely but at present, very wet planet  :smiley:. 

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goodricke1

goodricke1

Posted
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The usual argument is that the evolutionary timescale is slow and needs the right level of stability to reach high levels of complexity. But, as you say, with a sample of one we would see it that way!

Olly

Agreed Olly, but whether the moon is necessary for such stability seems unproven. Here's an article which suggests that it's not, no doubt there are counter-arguments also -

http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/earths-moon-may-not-critical-life/

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
Posted

Agreed Olly, but whether the moon is necessary for such stability seems unproven. Here's an article which suggests that it's not, no doubt there are counter-arguments also -

http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/earths-moon-may-not-critical-life/

Thanks for the link. I'll have a careful read of that.

Olly

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Knight of Clear Skies

Knight of Clear Skies

Posted
Posted

Agreed Olly, but whether the moon is necessary for such stability seems unproven. Here's an article which suggests that it's not, no doubt there are counter-arguments also -

http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/earths-moon-may-not-critical-life/

Yes, we certainly don't know, but I'm sure we can agree the life that has evolved here couldn't cope with six month days.

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

Posted
Posted

If you can synchronis the moons orbit so that it's constantly over my house in cloudy Lancashire id be very happy. I love the thing! It would help me out a lot as, when the moon comes out to play, the clouds fly away. Also, the moon being in the sky has no effect on planetary observing which is great for me.

So what should happen to all those deep-skyatics out there? Well, i suggest government funding should pay for all DSO fans to be rehoused in truly dark sky sites around the world, with full funding for equipment of course. There would also be a fully funded holiday back here once a year to come and observe our amazing satellite. Don't worry about where the money to fund this little venture will come from, the government can find money for far sillier and more costly things than this.

It would even bring peace and harmony to the ranks of deep sky and lunar and planetary observers. Well almost! There will always be the refractor vs reflector debate, where some silly people believe reflectors are better than refractors. Of course Cat owners being on the fence can flit from one side to the other, but no-one takes any notice of them.

Mike :-)

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bejay1957

bejay1957

Posted
Posted

With no moon what would become of certain things. Like the song Moon River, it would become, Very Dark Night River, The Floyds Dark Side Of The Moon would become , Dark Side Of The Other Dark Bit A Bit Higher Up......The list is endless :icon_biggrin:

There's always Cruithne - for those that recall the episode of QI ;-)

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

Posted
Posted

Explode the Moon?.............

Are you nuts!!!!!!!!!.

Enjoy it while its close by. Yes it hampers views of DSO's at times but the rest of the time its a wonderful object to observe. In time, as the Moon moves further away from Earth, eclipses will become a thing of he past.

Imagine a time in the future when eclipses (solar or lunar) do not happen because the Moon is too far away from us.

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