Tagged Questions

11
votes
2answers
199 views

How large can planets or moons appear?

In many artistic impressions or movies there are pictures or scenes where the sky is filled with an enormous moon (as seen from a planet) or vice versa. I wonder if there is an upper limit to the ...
0
votes
1answer
81 views

Has anyone on Earth ever seen the dark side of the moon and if so where are the pictures? [duplicate]

If the Moon rotates then we should see the dark side right? But as far as I know the Moon only shows one side to Earth, how can this be if it is rotating?
4
votes
2answers
117 views

If the moon was rapid enough would it be able to orbit the earth from a close distance?

If the moon was close in orbit that it's surface was like 100 km away from the earth's surface. And it had a large enough angular velocity will it be able to hold orbit? If this was possible, is ...
0
votes
2answers
54 views

Saturn ring stabilization

The rings of Saturn are the most extensive planetary ring system of any planet in the Solar System. I'm wondering, what power is primarily responsible for that stability? © Public Image by NASA ...
0
votes
3answers
85 views

Stresses in asteroid during close flyby

The acceleration of an asteroid (such as 2012DA14) as it approaches earth is proportional to the reciprocal of distance $r$ from earth center, squared. the derivative of the acceleration, or jerk, is ...
2
votes
1answer
161 views

Would the Moon drift away from the Earth due to extraction of tidal energy? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Why does the moon drift away from earth? It seems to me that, due to conservation of energy, the moon would drift away from the Earth if humans began extracting large ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views

How should I be thinking about tides?

I am working on a project for physics that involves tides. This is my current mind set when thinking about tides: The earth applies a gravitational force on some mass ...
2
votes
2answers
798 views

How gravitation effect on tides

I know that tide is caused by the gravitational pull of moon but what I don't know is how it effects on water. I have actually these doubts. Why does gravity of the moon creates tides only in water? ...
13
votes
5answers
2k views

Why do we always see the same side of the Moon?

I am puzzled why we always see the same side of the Moon even though it is rotating around its own axis apart from revolving around the earth. Shouldn't this only be possible if the Moon is not ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views

Why does the moon drift away from earth?

I once saw on TV that the moon is slowly drifting away from the earth, something like an inch a year. In relation to that the day on earth what also increase in time. I wonder why is that?
14
votes
5answers
1k views

Why does the moon face earth with the same side?

I know this is an astronomy question, but no such stackexchange site exists. So here I am, asking about the physics of the solar system. I know that the rotation period of the moon equals its ...
6
votes
10answers
959 views

Is the distance between the sun and the earth increasing?

M = mass of the sun m = mass of the earth r = distance between the earth and the sun The sun is converting mass into energy by nuclear fusion. $F = \frac{GMm}{r^2} = \frac{mv^2}{r} \rightarrow r ...