hypothetical multiple lunar orbit patterns; visiblily of moons from mythical planet's surface?

Question

i want to determine how to describe visual patterns of 3 moons in a novel set in a mythical world.

i have 1 moon that rises at sunset & wanes near midnight; coinciding with 2 sister moons' rise, which would wane at daybreak.

i want to take multiple seasons into account & my planet's axial tilt. would 3 moons cause twice or three times the number of tides as one?

the single moon, the farthest from the planet, would need to travel very, very fast in its orbit, and be quite large in order to be visible from the planet's surface.

the twin moons would travel in very close spatial relationship to one another, the outer moon's speed great enough in relation to the inner one so that they remain in the same visible combination to those viewing from the planet's surface.

does my explanation sound convincing? i have illustrated my mythical planet's lunar orbits here:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1252/1242718710_b373f6ec69.jpg

it's rough, but better than no visual aid : )

Answer 1

Hi. It would be more practical, and perhaps more interesting, for the two inner moons to be in a tight orbit around each other. The orbits could then be stable (not possible the way you describe). Also there could be mutual conjunctions (not to plagiarize several movies with that concept!).

Answer 2

Sounds interesting. I agree with the above answerer that the sister moons should be in an orbit around each other. Things in a wider orbit always have to move slower. Putting them in orbit around each other and then their collective system around the planets works around that. That also means your largest moon will need to be closer than you're saying.

In order to have the unique rising and waning, you'll need the moons very close to the planet. That will indeed make severe tides a must to mention. Also keep in mind that the specific order of moon movement only looks that way from one point on the planet's surface.

To help explain some of your moons movements, you might want to utilize Lagrangian points. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point
In the diagram at the right, you could use the sun's position as your mythical planet, the Earth's position as the largest moon, and any of the L points as the centerpoint of the two twin moons which would orbit around each other.

Hope this helps.