Is it realistic to have a moon made of antimatter?
I have an idea for a Sci-Fi story that involves a planet with a third moon made entirely of antimatter, before I delve further into this concept, I would appreciate input on
- how to make this scientifically feasible (if possible)?
-
Apart from a lack of atmosphere, what else would I need to do to make it realistic and believable?
And
I also need a safe and scientifically sound way to harvest and collect this resource, since any regular matter that comes in contact with the moon will explode. Any ideas on how to harness this?
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1 answer
Is it realistic - No. Very, very much no. Planets all form from the same disk, so having one moon be antimatter while everything else is regular matter is... not exactly plausible. There are a small handful of ways that an extrasolar object could be captured, but stars form in groups - of largely the same matter - And galaxies also generally comprise of the same matter. So an antimatter object would really have to be extra-galactic. Capturing an extra-galactic object as a moon is leaps and bounds more unlikely and difficult.
Now, beyond that - Is an antimatter "Moon" possible to exist? In short: Yes. Antimatter behaves largely like regular matter. And, actually, being planet-sized helps it survive. If it's a large moon or planet, it can have a magnetic field capable of deflecting enough of the solar wind and other particles. It can also have an atmosphere, made of anti-matter as well.
Mining would be... interesting, but possible. Much of mining is done with explosives - Something that wouldn't really be needed with a planet of antimatter. Drop something onto it. It explodes. At that point, you can use magnetic fields to capture the objects. Containing and securing them would be difficult, but not impossible.
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