Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Thunk.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


           

Second Moon

One-moon cycles are nice, but boring.
 
(0)
  [vote for,
against]

The Moon phases are entertaining and useful for calendar building, but watching the same full Moon/new Moon routine gets boring after a few thousands of years. Besides, one Moon does not provide nearly enough solar eclipses for everyone to enjoy at least 5 or 10 times per lifetime.

So, why not build one more moon? Mr. Bigelow has made an amazing progress with expandable modules, we could use those as a starting point (and hollow Moon-2 would not wreck the tidal patterns).

A few benefits:

- global fun watching the new extra moon

- figuring out the pattern of _two_ moons would be helpful for preventing Alzheimer's disease

- more frequent solar eclipses (I guess it falls under "fun", though)

- if our civilization collapses, the next one might evolve faster, having more complex pattern to think about

- subsequent civilizations would consider us gods

xipetotec, Aug 31 2007

Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.
Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee
Destination URL. E.g., https://www.coffee.com/
Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)






       Just as you now revere the Romans, Greeks, Aztecs and Mayans?
normzone, Aug 31 2007
  

       Well, they didn't make moons, so...   

       Actually, speaking of Mayas, they did have quite a convoluted calendar based on _two_ cycles... OMG SOMEBODY HAD STOLEN THE SECOND MOON!
xipetotec, Aug 31 2007
  

       The extra moon would have a hard time to stay in a reasonable orbit under the influence of the current, much heavier, earth/moon/sun system. The only place you could put it would be one of the stable Lagrange Points. It would still bounce around a bit.
kbecker, Sep 01 2007
  

       Please could it be made from green cheese?
the dog's breakfast, Sep 01 2007
  

       Thanks [Anathema Device] you saved me the trouble of putting in a harsh anno, then again I would think and actually do think that every sunrise is pretty damn magical.
zeno, Sep 01 2007
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle