Science question
Discussion
Satellites orbiting the earth.
They eventually fall out of orbit right? Small ones burn up but big ones don't and there is brief excitment on the news about where they will land? Right?
The moon.
Orbits the earth like a big satellite.
So when is it going to come down and cause that brief flurry of excitment?
They eventually fall out of orbit right? Small ones burn up but big ones don't and there is brief excitment on the news about where they will land? Right?
The moon.
Orbits the earth like a big satellite.
So when is it going to come down and cause that brief flurry of excitment?
Bushmaster said:
Satellites orbiting the earth.
They eventually fall out of orbit right? Small ones burn up but big ones don't and there is brief excitment on the news about where they will land? Right?
The moon.
Orbits the earth like a big satellite.
So when is it going to come down and cause that brief flurry of excitment?
I may be wrong, but I thought the two were going in different directions, with the Earth slowing down and the moon therefore moving away....They eventually fall out of orbit right? Small ones burn up but big ones don't and there is brief excitment on the news about where they will land? Right?
The moon.
Orbits the earth like a big satellite.
So when is it going to come down and cause that brief flurry of excitment?
tonyvid said:
Saskia7 said:
Bushmaster said:
Satellites orbiting the earth.
They eventually fall out of orbit right? Small ones burn up but big ones don't and there is brief excitment on the news about where they will land? Right?
The moon.
Orbits the earth like a big satellite.
So when is it going to come down and cause that brief flurry of excitment?
I may be wrong, but I thought the two were going in different directions, with the Earth slowing down and the moon therefore moving away....They eventually fall out of orbit right? Small ones burn up but big ones don't and there is brief excitment on the news about where they will land? Right?
The moon.
Orbits the earth like a big satellite.
So when is it going to come down and cause that brief flurry of excitment?
Chilli said:
s2art said:
Tidal forces are moving it away from the Earth.
Really? How the hell do the tides effect something in space?Neil_H said:
The moon is moving away from us by a few cm per year. There are plans to anchor it here with a gigantic dog lead, but no one has so far volunteered to keep hold of it, and there are design issues with the collar.
It's certainly a relief we overcome the logistical issues <phew>according to Iain Stewart's book "Earth : Power of the Planet" (page 224)
Stewart said:
About 5 billion years from now, as the Sun's hydrogen fuel becomes deplete, it will swell into a red giant. To see this from Eart would be to see the Sun completely filling the daytime sky. Its radiation will be 2000 times more powerful than now, causing the Earth's surface to heat up beyond 2000 degrees C - hot enough to melt mountains and smooth over the entire planet.
It is truely a catyclismic end for our planet. As the Sun flares out, its atmosphere will produce a drag force on the Moon, forcing it to spiral inwards and collide with the Earth, the planet that gave birth to it so many bilions of years before. The expanding Sun will become as much as 6000 times brighter than today, its diameter pulsing out to the size of Earth's orbit. Earth will cease to exist.
From the "Further Reading", I expect this comes from Ward and Brownlee, "The Life and Death of Planet Earth", Piatkus Books, 2003.It is truely a catyclismic end for our planet. As the Sun flares out, its atmosphere will produce a drag force on the Moon, forcing it to spiral inwards and collide with the Earth, the planet that gave birth to it so many bilions of years before. The expanding Sun will become as much as 6000 times brighter than today, its diameter pulsing out to the size of Earth's orbit. Earth will cease to exist.
s2art said:
Chilli said:
s2art said:
Tidal forces are moving it away from the Earth.
Really? How the hell do the tides effect something in space?The moon is moving away at something like 1 inch per orbit or 1 inch per year or something?
OK, so tying this in with the lifespan of water based living stuff on the planet.
If water solvated biochemistry as about 2.2 Billion years left.
Will we get screwed up by the swelling sun in that time OR what happens to climate change when the moon buggers off.
If the moon is about 384403Km away. 100M years with "a couple of centimeters per year" is 200,000,000 cm or about 2000km.
Would the rate speed up as it loses grip?
If water solvated biochemistry as about 2.2 Billion years left.
Will we get screwed up by the swelling sun in that time OR what happens to climate change when the moon buggers off.
If the moon is about 384403Km away. 100M years with "a couple of centimeters per year" is 200,000,000 cm or about 2000km.
Would the rate speed up as it loses grip?
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