yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

How Many Moons Could Earth Handle? #kurzgesagt #shorts


less than 1m read
·Nov 2, 2024

How many moons could Earth handle? The main factor is space. Any moon needs a clean orbit and we have to take two things into account. One, it can't be too far; otherwise, it won't follow a stable orbit around us. Two, it can't be too close either, or the gravitational pull of Earth will grind it into crumbs.

These outer and inner limits define our moon zone, a donut-shaped area where any additional moon will have to live. Each moon around the Earth requires its own personal submoon zone, and these zones shouldn't interact with each other. Like runners on an Olympic racetrack, they need to be spaced out so that their mutual influence is kept to a minimum.

The bigger the mass of a moon, the larger the personal space required. All in all, simulations have shown that only a few constellations would be stable. Earth could either host up to seven moons as big as dwarf planet Ceres, four Pluto-sized moons, or three moon-sized moons.

And then what? Tides might be more violent. There could be different tidal systems, and most notably, on some nights, our sky would be adorned with three bright marbles, frequently casting beautiful shadows on each other. Wow, what a view! But...

More Articles

View All
Government supervision and regulation of banking institutions | Financial Literacy | Khan Academy
So whenever you’re dealing with banking, there’s a whole series of government agencies and quasi pseudo-government organizations. I’ll talk a little bit about why it’s quasi-government. That influence what’s happening with banks, and it’s useful to know w…
Introduction to spectroscopy | Intermolecular forces and properties | AP Chemistry | Khan Academy
In this video, we’re going to talk about spectroscopy, which is all about the interactions between light and matter. When we’re talking about light, we’re not just talking about visible light; we’re talking about electromagnetic radiation in general. So, …
Why does your vote matter? | US government and civics | Khan Academy
Why does your vote matter? Your vote matters because, uh, in the most specific case, there might be a race where you live for the House or the Senate, or even the presidency, where your vote really could determine who the winner of that race is. We saw i…
Intro to adjectives | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy
So grammarians, we have this class of words called adjectives, and what they do is they change stuff. Adjectives change stuff. Adjectives change stuff. They’re part of this larger category of words that we call modifiers because that’s what they do. They …
Do Shark Stories Help Sharks? | Podcast | Overheard at National Geographic
Oh my god, it smells so good. That was the thing when you were driving down to the store as a kid and you had the windows down; it’s all salt water. I’m standing on a beach at the Jersey Shore, looking out at the Atlantic Ocean. So, on a typical summer da…
Tim Matheson on Playing Ronald Reagan | Killing Reagan
Very rarely is there the perfect man and the perfect job, and we see it in actors and we see it in certain politicians. Here was a man who was born to play that role as President of the United States and was an inspirational leader when the nation really …