Reddit Reddit reviews What If the Moon Didn't Exist?: Voyages to Earths That Might Have Been

We found 4 Reddit comments about What If the Moon Didn't Exist?: Voyages to Earths That Might Have Been. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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What If the Moon Didn't Exist?: Voyages to Earths That Might Have Been
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4 Reddit comments about What If the Moon Didn't Exist?: Voyages to Earths That Might Have Been:

u/darien_gap · 13 pointsr/askscience

Another way of saying xORioN63's part B is that the earth's rotation (around its axis) and revolution (around the sun) period would both equal one year, just as the moon's rotation and revolution around the earth both equal one month, which leads to the same side of the moon always facing the earth (because it's tidally locked).

In any event, very hot on the sun-facing side, and very cold on the dark side, with a narrow temperate shadow band round the earth between these two fire-and-ice worlds. The sun would always be on the horizon and it would always look like sunset/sunrise, but the sun wouldn't move.

This description is idealized however. I don't know if climatologists have modeled what would happen to the earth's atmosphere. For instance, if the oceans boiled off the hot side and froze on the dark side, then there might be no atmosphere on the planet, making the temperate band uninhabitable. Liquid water presumably could exist there, though it's hard to imagine that on a planet with no atmosphere. (Would it boil off due to the vacuum?)

In Neil Comins' "What If the Moon Didn't Exist?: Voyages to Earths That Might Have Been," the author describes several what-if alternate Earths, including one related to your question (but not the same), an earth whose axis points at the sun (like Uranus). Such an earth could still have a 24-hour day but the same side would always point toward the sun. Unfortunately, I don't remember his other conclusions about the planet, as I read this book many years ago. It was very good though.

Comins also wrote a sequel, "What If the Earth Had Two Moons?: And Nine Other Thought-Provoking Speculations on the Solar System" in 2010.

u/Grindeldore · 3 pointsr/worldbuilding
  1. Creatures are still able to navigate on nights with a new moon, so Yes.

    2.The Axial shift theory has been substantially discredited and even if it was true, shifts would take place of millions of years. (J Lissauer, J Barnes, J Chambers; ‘Obliquity Variations of a Moonless Earth’, Icarus, 217 (2011) 77–87. - See more at: http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/earths-moon-may-not-critical-life/#sthash.SGpXV7rb.dpuf). Basically, the variations on Earth would be from 13-33 degrees, and they're currently 22-24.5 degrees. This would cause cyclical ice ages, but life should be able to adapt.
  2. I can't see why.
  3. No.

    In other effects, Tides would be far lower, which would probably mean the Earth would take longer to have life. The Days would be half as long, because the moon slows us. Landmasses would be few and small, as our mantle would be less active. For more, see https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Moon-Didnt-Exist/dp/0060168641
u/greginnj · 2 pointsr/answers

As for good places to learn about the moon, I'd suggest this article and this book, which spend a lot of time on the sort of what-if questions you're probably thinking of.

u/jennifex · 1 pointr/AskScienceDiscussion

There's a book on this very topic that my high school teacher made us all read.

http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Moon-Didnt-Exist/dp/0060168641