Do we really need the moon?

[milkyjoe]

Did anyone watch this show last night on bbc2? It was pretty good I thought, but does anyone know where she was when she could see the moon rising and the sun setting... at the same time?

Thanks.

Rick.

[MarySkater]

does anyone know where she was when she could see the moon rising and the sun setting... at the same time?

I think she said White Sands, which assume was the New Mexico location.

But is it so difficult to see? I guess you need an elevated location, to give a distant horizon. And clear skies. But at full moon, the moon will be coming up as the sun goes down.

Mary

[daz]

I'm ashamed to say I went to bed half way thru!! Not 'cos of the content - I was just knackered!! Looked quite interesting though....

iPlayer - here we come!

[Ant]

I did find it very interesting mate - I think you'll enjoy it!

Ant

[jgs001]

I missed the first 3/4's of it... will watch it later in iPlayer

[Gerontius]

Good programme

When she said that the moon held the earth steady but the earth would wobble on its axis if the moon wasn't there was interesting. She didn't expand on that - I wished she had, I would like to know why.

[jamespels]

Not an expert on this but I think it's to do with instabilities in the liquid core's spin. It is pretty much all over the shop (iirc this is the reason why the mag pole keeps moving around). Would make sense that Mars settled down after a while as its core solidified. No idea how the moon stabilises things though.

[brantuk]

I thought it was great - very well presented, and some quite detailed topics were explained in a way that was easilly understood by just about anyone.

She came over as very enthusiastic too which allways makes it a joy to watch

[tiwar]

Thought it was great she came across well, full of enthusiasm.... more of this on the BBC please!!!

T x

[Gerontius]

Brantuk I fully agree: Genuine enthusiasm in a presenter always comes across and makes watching a joy - she had plenty of it

[BigTfromNotts]

Just wish I was around when a day was 5 hours long. Work would not have been such a pain then.

Enjoyed the show. As for the wobble, the earth has around a 5 degree wobble now. It is over a period of around 20000 to 50000 years if I recall correctly, and is the prime reason that global warming is cyclic. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles

[Cancer56]

Watched this on the iplayer thismorning and found it very informative.