I heard on the Discovery chanel that if the moon did not exist, Earth would go on a crash course with Mars or Venus? Is this true ? if so, why
2007-08-21 06:52:39 · 8 answers · asked by coldfire_blacksheep 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
sometimes when i have the discovery channel on, im not paying full attention to it. and while im not paying full attention, i can hear some pretty crazy stuff. but had i actually been paying attention, i would have heard the whole story.
this is what happened to you. i remember the broadcast you are talking about. if the moon didnt exist, we wouldnt go crashing into the other planets. they were just talking about how the gravitational fields of all the planets and moons were affecting everything around them.
2007-08-21 07:02:37 · answer #1 · answered by swatthefly 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, I don't think it's true. Can you say which show it was you were watching? I think you mis-heard something.
Maybe you heard this: It is believed that the moon was formed as the result of a collision (billions of years ago) between the earth and a Mars-sized planet (which no longer exists, of course). So: if we hadn't collided with a Mars-like planet, there would be no moon today. A littlle backwards from what you describe, but it's my best guess as to what you heard.
2007-08-21 14:00:37 · answer #2 · answered by RickB 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think you misunderstood what the program was talking about. It may have been a show about the formation of the solar system, and you may have missed some of the program.
The moon has no effect on the Earth's orbit with respect to Mars or Venus.
2007-08-21 20:01:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the moon actually does have an affect on the precession of the earth's axis - meaning how much it wobbles like a top as opposed to spinning around cleanly like a top at the beginning of its spin. the moon is also extremely large for a natural satellite relative to the size of the earth - so much so that you might even call ours a two planet system. i don't think it's too far-fetched to propose the earth's orbit might be different without the smaller object in this almost double planet system. but far be it for me to disagree with all these fine people above me.
2007-08-21 14:56:08 · answer #4 · answered by kickyouintheface 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who told you that bunch of nonsense?
You must have misheard things.
What I will say is that the moon was probably formed as a result of a collision between earth and a mars-sized object about 5 billion years ago, when there was a lot of collisions happening between newly formed planetesimals.
Thats all.
2007-08-21 14:02:22 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You mean, if the moon had NEVER existed or if it suddenly disappeared overnight?
If it had never existed, we would just be in a slightly different orbit, and likely a slightly different tilt, with obviously different weather patterns.
If it suddenly disappeared tomorrow, our orbit would likely shift a little bit, but I doubt we'd be heading for a date with Venus or Mars.
2007-08-21 13:58:08 · answer #6 · answered by jjsocrates 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is completely false. I find it hard to believe you heard that on discovery. It makes no sense at all.
2007-08-21 13:58:19 · answer #7 · answered by DrAnders_pHd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, planets like Venus hold stable orbits without moons, so if we'd never had one we'd still hold ours
2007-08-21 14:07:36 · answer #8 · answered by Efnissien 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋