Posts tagged moons
How would the phases of the moon change depending on the inclination of its orbit with respect to its primary's equatorial plane? Earth's moon has an orbit that is rather close to the ecliptic, but...
In a nutshell, I'm trying to build a world with erratic day/night cycles. To get the erratic days, I'm working with a habitable moon. It takes 3 full earth days (72 hours) for the habitable moon ...
Imagine that humanity builds mining facilities on the moon. We know that the moon has Helium-3 which could be used as fuel for fusion reactors. Also, there are a lot of other resources which could ...
I was thinking about this world with different ancient factions on war. The war caused both of them and most life on the planet to die, I was thinking about one of the moons getting shattered as a ...
A defining factor of my world is the hardships inhabitants have to face when surviving long seasons. Due to the extreme length of a year, time is largely measured by moon cycles. I need to make sur...
I've been working on a system with a habitable moon (Moon A) for a story, and I'm now trying to populate the other moons around the parent planet. I'm considering placing one (Moon B) in a co-orbi...
We know that Mars has a reddish color, because its ground consists of iron-based compounds. The moon is grey-whiteish because it consists mostly of silicon-based compounds. What element should the...
I would like to have an Earth-like planet (~Earth gravity, ~Earth day, ~Earth year, and liquid water oceans) with extreme variance in its tides. I want the lowest tide to reveal about 30 miles of f...
In almost every sci fi alien trope there will be a directive whereby one of the general order states no spacecraft may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society and is puni...
Assuming the planet is earth-like, with more surface water and atmospheric oxygen, and within the habitable zone of a sun-like star, how can a moon orbiting this planet retain a thick atmosphere? ...
An asteroid collision big enough and fast enough to see a massive ejection of rock and moon-chunks, from the surface of the earth AND not wipe out the population of the planet. What size and speed...
Could we fire a heavy, long (e.g., 50 meters), spear-shaped object into Europa's icy-surface from space and then, when momentum stops, gravity gradually moves weights down inside copper tubes the l...
Imagine an inhabitated planet like ours with a moon of the same projected size in the sky. The moon has visible structures of colors or darker and lighter areas. Every evening when the moon gets ...
I'm working on a story that takes place on a world that has 3 moons. At least 2 of the moons are the same size. They align extremely rarely. Otherwise, it's an earth-like planet. There is one...
I've seen many questions about tides and tidal variations on a wide variety of interesting single star, multi star, single planet, binary planet, single moon, multiple moon, and even ring system co...
I've got an image in my head of a world where it's just normal that the star is black with a golden halo around it - in other words, where the planet is in a state of perpetual solar eclipse. Are ...
My main antagonist is an infant Great One that's been imprisoned below the Moon's surface and I want its influence and physical form to have a weakness to direct sunlight which, I think, gives me a...
In my world I would like to create a pit on the Moon filled with air. How deep would the pit need to be to get 1 ATM of pressure Could the pit maintain the air or would it be lost to space? If i...
As the title says. I need to have at least 3-5 habitable Earth-gravity worlds (preferably with atmosphere, nitrogen oxygen) as many smaller, lifeless moons as possible, and a planetary ring. (i.e. ...
Some astronauts have just arrived in Mars orbit! They're fixing to set up a small refueling station/outpost on Deimos. One problem, how might they keep their small habitat and associated structures...
For story purposes, I'm trying to determine what would happen if a small moon-sized object crashed into an unmovable barrier surrounding a planet. My goal here is to eventually get a ring surroundi...
A scenario in the far future -- The moon has been successfully terraformed. All problems have been worked-out, from flinging volatiles into collision course with the moon, up to creating and retain...
The Emperor of the World wants there always to be a full moon. His Scientific Advisor (the SA) comes up with a plan. He plans to cost out the venture, hand it over to the Keeper of the Treasury wh...
My question is in the context of a fictional super-Neptune that lies in the habitable zone of its host star system. Giant planets only form beyond the Frost Line of their protoplanetary disk, and...
Your large spaceship is damaged beyond repair. You manage to get it close enough to a planet so that you can release emergency shuttle craft. You have very little control over the ship and won't be...
Is a moon made entirely of water possible? Could a planet made completely of water exist? I was inspired by the above questions to ask the following: Assume that our current Moon is replaced ins...
A great way to introduce advanced technology to a story is to have it be of extraterrestrial origin. E.g. have a spaceship crash on earth, or, like I was planning to, put a derelict spaceport on th...
Take-off in a craft with rockets allows a gentle acceleration that doesn't kill the occupants. Given that the Moon has no atmosphere: Is there any current technology that would allow safe takeoff ...
Europa's surface is marred with huge, curved cracks, called lineae, which may - depending on the thickness of its icy crust - expose the subsurface ocean to sunlight. Pictures like the one above...
I know that in the past I posted questions on if specific bodies larger than the moon--Mars in one and Titan in another--but this series deals with questions regarding Earth's effects by a natural ...
On earth there can be hours where the moon is up during the same time the sun is in the sky (daytime moon) due to the combined rotation of earth and orbit of the moon. I would like to have an earth...
The TRAPPIST-1 planets are all very close to each other and thus are subjected to strong gravitational forces amongst each other and to the red dwarf they're orbiting. Would it be possible for them...
Here's what I've come up with: The star: A main sequence star, roughly a sol analogue Younger than Sol (say 3-3.5 billion years old) roughly the same starting mass as Sol, but has had less tim...
I would like to give my imaginary earth-analogue planet multiple (natural) moons. Is the orbital period of such moons at all related to their size (or apparent size)? In other words, am I free ...
Making the following assumptions: 1. The three moons of the Gas Giant are safe enough distances from and massive enough not to pull each other apart or send themselves careening into the void. 2...
Imagine a small primitive humanoid civilization that developed independently in caves under the surface of Ganymede. We can assume there's enough light that filters through the crystalline surface ...
I have a scenario which I am too poorly knowledgeable to address, I'm hoping for some expert input. I'm currently writing a novel, in which a large section of Russia/EU continents were blown up i...
So recently I got slated for missing some glaring obvious flaws in my story on here, which I really do appreciate. I'm approaching the question from a different angle though, in two parts. What w...
I fear the math involved is beyond my capabilities on this one. I have what I consider to be more than a Layman's understanding of the physics involved, and I believe I can follow the math well en...
I've read the creation of dams in Earth can change the speed of rotation of the planet because they reallocate the mass over the planet. Let's suppose humans find a valuable mineral in the Moon an...
The planet orbits a supermassive gas giant, almost double the size of Jupiter. But the planet orbiting it is also supposed to have rather large rings in my story. Question: Is it possible for a mo...
Assuming a situation similar to this, where the moon causes slower but massive tides that slowly encircle the globe. Would the poles be constantly underwater or not underwater (like A or B below)?:...
We all know that equation for surface gravity is $$ g = \frac{4\pi}{3} G \rho r $$ So if we want Earth-like surface gravity of $ g = 9.81 $, then the equation for radius is $$ r = \frac{3 g}{4\p...
I'm writing a science fiction story set on a moon orbiting a gas giant. I want to understand how the world's day night cycle would appear from its surface and how the world might be affected by thi...
I'm attempting to create a world that has very brutal, hard swinging weather and environments, leaving much of the planet desert-like. The world I've designed is a moon of a gas giant. The Parent ...
Science-based answers, please. Key points: the main concern is radiation protection for sustainability of human life (and accompanying plant and animal life ecosystems, whether earth-like or n...
My planet is very Earth-like with a day length of 26.87h. The moon has a radius of about 1550km, a mass of $5.2\times10^{22}$ kg and orbit 45500 km from the center of planet. My scenario is that t...
If I push a couple of magnetic asteroids into mars gravitational field, could they form an interlocking series of magnetic fields able to protect mars from solar winds? Size limits for asteroids ...
Because our moon is tidally locked with Earth, then the same half always faces the Earth regardless of where the Moon is in its orbit. As such, would a tidally locked satellite such as our moon (as...
I would like a earth-moon system like Pluto-Charon (but with earth instead of Pluto) where both will be tidally locked to each other within something like 3 billion years (before complex life appea...