what would happen to the moon if the death star destroyed earth?

Question

the ideas that i think would be possible is that 1. it would start to orbit the sun or 2. drift into space untill pulled by another body.

Answer 1

Hypothetically, that would depend on the location of the moon at the moment that the Earth was destroyed.

Answer 2

The Moon would still revolve around the Sun with a stretched out orbit towards the direction it was revolving around the Earth. Now there are a few possibilities. Depending on how much Earth debris would still remain. Would there be enough debris to reform some object with enough gravitational force to keep the Moon a Moon and not have the Moon become a planet. It is also possible the inertia from the blast could knock the Moon totally out of orbit. There may not be anything to prevent it heading towards the Death Star itself.

Answer 3

It would, after about 2 seconds, because the force of gravity travels at the speed of light, start to be pulled into a wider orbit around the sun. Or, due to the opposing pulls of the other planets and the sun, just pass through the solar system or get pulled into orbit around another planet.

Answer 4

It would be forced out of orbit. Then a number of things could happen depending on the trajectory it takes:

Drift off and be attracted into the orbit of another planet.

Drift into orbit around the sun and become a minor planet.

Drift off and leave the solar system entirely.

Drop into the sun and be consumed.

Get caught up in earths demise and be shattered. In which event it would likely coalesce with the remnants of earth and form a new planet in time.

Answer 5

The Empire would not dare vaporize us. The litigation would bankrupt them.

...About the moon - well, that would depend on how much of the Earth was left.

It wouldn't be necessary to obliiterate our planet; yes, in Episode IV that planet ("Alderaan"?) was blown to asteroid-sized smithereens, but that implies a force thousands of times the magnitude necessary to "merely" utterly disrupt the Earth, i.e. cause the mantle to fly apart, and so kill off every last living microbe on our planet.

However, much of what was Earth would come together again in this scenario. Albeit as a big glowing heap of rubble; in the meantime the moon's orbit would obviously change radically (perhaps losing its tidal lock in the process?) & who knows, maybe it'll fly off in the solar system.

But my point is that this is actually a terribly complex question in orbital dynamics that you're asking, and one that depends greatly on the final disposition of the Earth.

Answer 6

If it stayed in a similar orbit it would then become the largest object at its distance from the sun. The debris from the earth’s explosion could eventually re-coalesce around the moon (because of its gravity) forming a new planet!!

Answer 7

Depending on the force of the explosion, it could get propelled right out of the solar system and become a free floating interstellar body. Most likely it would fall into its own orbit around the sun.

Answer 8

3. get some new craters and assume an new orbit in a trajectory that would hold it in balance between it's speed around the sun and the gravitational pull of the sun.

Answer 9

well you answered your own question

OR

it would be like space:1999

its a tv show if you dont know about the moon being blown out of earth orbit

Answer 10

Well, because of the power of the death star, if it destroyed the earth, the moon would also be torn to pieces.