What would be the effects of multiple moons on a planet?

Question

You know how in some work of fiction, especially in fantasy and science fiction, we see worlds that have more then one moon?
Well, scientifically speaking, what would the effects of multiple moons be on a planet?
Would the tides just rise higher, or whatever? Would night just be brighter? Or would there be other effects?

I'm not necessarily talking about the Earth itself as we know it.
I mean some fictional or far-flung plant in our own universe that naturally has more then one moon.

Answer 1

Let's just say that if the earth had more than one moon - like say we gained another in our gravitational field - the result would be disastrous

Answer 2

Not only is water effected but there are also land bulges both on the moon and the planets. Tides (and land bulges also) are caused by the moon, the sun, and the spin of the planet, and the effect of the individuals is more complex than you may suspect, let alone their interaction. Also, when you add wind direction and air pressure into the mix, and I can tell you from years of working a tide dependent job, it gets really complex. That would be such a mess if more than one moon had to be accounted for. Our moon is proportionally huge when looking at other planets in our system and has a real dramatic effect. The link below will give you a good basic as well as other links. Better than a paraphrase.

Answer 3

The following will be the effects of multiple moons on a planet.
(1) In the night, some moon will always be reflecting the sun's light throught the year with the result ,the effect of "newmoon" (darkness during night once in a month as on the earth) will not be there.
(2)There will be many lunar eclipses and solar eclipses.
(3) If the planet happens to be our earth,the effect of tides will become a complex one.This may cause fluctuations in sea surface temperature which may affect the weather conditions.For example, the formations of storms depend on sea surface temperatures.
(4) The nights will become brighter as more than one moon will be litting the sky.

Answer 4

FIRST you ought to artwork out sizes and orbits that are good over 4 billion years or so .. Moons make contributions to tides (returned, relies upon on length & orbit = you may artwork this out) as quickly as you have length & orbits, you may artwork out the minimium momentum (mass x velocity) required with the help of an asteroid that should obliterate certainly one of your Moons ... till you chosen the outermost moon, there will be very few mixtures of velocity / mass that could bring about the asteroid hitting an inner moon - because of the fact it may be pulled approximately with the help of the gravity of the different moons and the planet itself the asteroid could ought to be on some very specific (hardly unintentional) direction ... of direction if ET moved the asteroid into the path of the chosen Moon (using some form of reaction engines) you may artwork out what's important from the mass of the asteroid & the positions of the different moons .. What happens after the effect relies upon on the mass / velocity of the asteroid & moon - If the effect is against the path of the moons orbit, many of the mass would de-orbit on the instant and effect the planets floor. If the path is with the orbit, countless the mass would be ejected out of orbit around the planets yet maximum likley proceed to be in the planets orbital direction around the solar. In the two circumstances, basically like meteor showers in the international, you ought to assume a tub each and every 3 hundred and sixty 5 days because of the fact the planet orbits the solar and is going during the situation of effect ...

Answer 5

First of all, I would like to say that Jupiter has at least 60 moons that have been discovered so far. Where the figure of 4 comes from I hate to think.

But this is a very interesting question. And its not just science fiction that has multiple moons. Its really common to have multiple moons.
You've got it right, tides would be more complex with the various moons creating all kinds of shifting tidal patterns. Night would certainly be brighter too.
It would create tremendously beautiful sights sometimes though, for example, if moons crossed in front of eachother and appeared to overlap. That would be wonderful.
Hopefully, they wouldnt collide!

Answer 6

Our planet Jupiter has got 4 moons. Sometimes in the year you can see it through binoculars and you see the different positions of them on each day. Jupiter is also the largest planet, so maybe 4 moons are needed to do the job of 1 on a smaller planet.

Oh I stand corrected, the number 4 comes from the well known 4 Large moons that are named.