An anstronomy question open to the general public...?

Question

What do you suppose might happen if all the moons from all the other planets in our solar system were brought into orbit around our planet Earth in addition to its own moon?

Answer 1

We'd have a lot more moons to look at in the sky. Certainly tide patterns would be affected. Really, you have to specify exactly what kind of orbits they're going to have to predict every possible effect.

In general, however, it's not going to spell disaster as long as each is in a stable orbit.

Edit: And, once again, the completely ignorant answers so many people give never ceases to amaze me.

There are NO moons nearly as big as the Earth...there are only a handful which are larger than our moon, and two that are larger than Mercury, which is about 1/3 the diameter of the Earth. And not one single moon even comes close to the mass of the Earth...in fact, you could combine every single moon in the solar system and their mass still would not add up to the Earth's.

As for the weather answer...our moon has very little if any effect on weather patterns.

Answer 2

The tides on Earth would definitely be affected by the presence of other moons, because the Moon (and also the Sun) is the reason why we experience tides at all. If they were many moons around Earth, the amplitude of the tides might be smaller or larger, since the effects of each other could partially cancel out or add up. There could also be more than two high tides per day, and the cycle of the tides could be less regular than it is.

If Earth had more moons, there would also be more solar eclipses. These two things would probaly be the more noticeable effects. Thats's because the seasons and the variation of temperature over the course of the year are caused by the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, and the fact that the Earth's rotation axis is tilted. Unless the presence of more moons could affect one of these, we shouldn't notice any chages in the course of the seasons. As for our body cycles, there are no scientific theories relating them to the presence of the Moon.

Answer 3

that depends entirely on the stability and location of their orbits (assuming we're not in line to get hit by one). it would certainly make for some interesting skies...for a while until their cumulative effect might eventually cause the earth to move from its stable orbit...

an equally interesting question would be what would happen if we took our own moon away?

contrary to a post, the moon is directly responsible for the earth enjoying stable weather. tidal impacts alone, never mind the role that the moon plays in controlling precession could play long term havoc upon delicately balanced ecosystems.

Answer 4

Well, considering Titan, Io, Ganymede, and Triton are bigger than our moon, and since they'd have to be in a certain proximity to avoid each other & being dislodged from the Sun's gravity.... we'd have some pretty wacky tides and a lot more techtonic activity.

Let's work to prevent that.

Answer 5

Different parts are opened for different things. I never completely expose myself because there are too many parts to the puzzle. The only people that know the most of me are my friends. While my better half know the whole of me. You are on a roll, could you hit me with the skittles now?

Answer 6

considering some of them are similar to earth in size, it would be very very bad.

edit: to expand on very very bad:
assuming we managed to have a stable system (if possible), we'd no longer be in the centre. Our seasons would be gone, our tectonics would be active to the point of turning Earth into a lava-ball, and sooner or later something would crash. The combined system (It would no longer be earth's system since we'd only be a minor player) would be many times heavier than our orbit is currently able to handle. We'd start attracting all sorts of wanderers (perhaps pull Mars or something too), and they would crash into one or another of us.
Sooner or later the whole mess would end up flung into Sol or Jupiter or scrambled into a new asteroid belt (I would bet some objects to each location).

Answer 7

in public toilets you can find famous people doing the laundry.

Answer 8

We'd have some CRAZY weather, that's for sure!