* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Monday, September 15, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment

    From Spinal Tap II to Ed Sheeran : your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead – The Guardian

    Fall’s Hottest Ski Films Are Going on Tour—Here’s the List – yahoo.com

    Experience the Thrill: Fall’s Hottest Ski Films Hit the Road-Don’t Miss the Tour!

    Ryan Reynolds reveals he called a journalist who said mean things about John Candy – yahoo.com

    Ryan Reynolds Reveals the Moment He Stood Up to a Journalist Who Insulted John Candy

    Entertainment Community Fund Launches Program Supporting Entrepreneurs – Playbill

    Entertainment Community Fund Unveils Exciting New Program to Empower Entrepreneurs

    Behind the turntables: DJ Johnny Kage’s story of perseverance – yahoo.com

    Behind the Turntables: DJ Johnny Kage’s Inspiring Journey of Perseverance

    The other WWE star James Gunn wanted for Peacemaker instead of John Cena – yahoo.com

    The WWE Star James Gunn Originally Wanted for Peacemaker Instead of John Cena

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology

    Unlocking AI Success: How People, Process, and Technology Form the Ultimate Triangle

    Billion-dollar coffins? New technology could make oceans transparent and Aukus submarines vulnerable – The Guardian

    Billion-Dollar Coffins? How New Technology Could Make Oceans Transparent and Expose Submarines

    What if artificial intelligence is just a “normal” technology? – The Economist

    What if artificial intelligence is just a “normal” technology? – The Economist

    Lincoln Trail College Receives $100,000 Grant from Marathon Petroleum Corporation for Technology Center – wwbl.com

    Lincoln Trail College Lands $100,000 Grant from Marathon Petroleum to Elevate Technology Center

    Aston Martin to integrate Pirelli’s cyber tyre technology in future models – Just Auto

    Aston Martin to Revolutionize Future Models with Pirelli’s Cutting-Edge Cyber Tyre Technology

    Figure Technology’s stock sizzles after IPO, as investors stay hungry for crypto deals – MarketWatch

    Figure Technology’s Stock Skyrockets After IPO Amid Surging Crypto Investor Excitement

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment

    From Spinal Tap II to Ed Sheeran : your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead – The Guardian

    Fall’s Hottest Ski Films Are Going on Tour—Here’s the List – yahoo.com

    Experience the Thrill: Fall’s Hottest Ski Films Hit the Road-Don’t Miss the Tour!

    Ryan Reynolds reveals he called a journalist who said mean things about John Candy – yahoo.com

    Ryan Reynolds Reveals the Moment He Stood Up to a Journalist Who Insulted John Candy

    Entertainment Community Fund Launches Program Supporting Entrepreneurs – Playbill

    Entertainment Community Fund Unveils Exciting New Program to Empower Entrepreneurs

    Behind the turntables: DJ Johnny Kage’s story of perseverance – yahoo.com

    Behind the Turntables: DJ Johnny Kage’s Inspiring Journey of Perseverance

    The other WWE star James Gunn wanted for Peacemaker instead of John Cena – yahoo.com

    The WWE Star James Gunn Originally Wanted for Peacemaker Instead of John Cena

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology

    Unlocking AI Success: How People, Process, and Technology Form the Ultimate Triangle

    Billion-dollar coffins? New technology could make oceans transparent and Aukus submarines vulnerable – The Guardian

    Billion-Dollar Coffins? How New Technology Could Make Oceans Transparent and Expose Submarines

    What if artificial intelligence is just a “normal” technology? – The Economist

    What if artificial intelligence is just a “normal” technology? – The Economist

    Lincoln Trail College Receives $100,000 Grant from Marathon Petroleum Corporation for Technology Center – wwbl.com

    Lincoln Trail College Lands $100,000 Grant from Marathon Petroleum to Elevate Technology Center

    Aston Martin to integrate Pirelli’s cyber tyre technology in future models – Just Auto

    Aston Martin to Revolutionize Future Models with Pirelli’s Cutting-Edge Cyber Tyre Technology

    Figure Technology’s stock sizzles after IPO, as investors stay hungry for crypto deals – MarketWatch

    Figure Technology’s Stock Skyrockets After IPO Amid Surging Crypto Investor Excitement

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

5 Ways Life on Earth Would Be Different If We Had Two Moons

December 2, 2023
in Science
5 Ways Life on Earth Would Be Different If We Had Two Moons
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Imagine that you’re looking up at the night sky — and instead of spotting a single moon above you, you see two glowing orbs instead.

In this alternate reality, one of these celestial bodies is about the size and brightness of our present-day moon, but the second appears four times bigger and brighter. From this secondary moon’s surface, fountains of magma erupt from volcanoes, creating space debris that enters our atmosphere to produce meteor showers more spectacular than any we know today.

These are just some of the possibilities for our planet if we had two moons, each roughly the same size as the other, with the second situated about halfway between Earth and our current moon. But what would life on Earth really be like if our planet was orbited by two moons instead of one?

What Would Be Different If Earth Had Two Moons?

Astrophysicist Neil F. Comins wondered about this very question; in 2010, he wrote a book, What If the Earth Had Two Moons? : And Nine Other Thought-Provoking Speculations on the Solar System, to dig into some possible answers.

In his book, Comins, who teaches physics and astronomy at the University of Maine, provides readers with 10 different scenarios for how life on Earth would be vastly different given alternative conditions.

In the titular chapter, Comins posits a scenario in which a planet similar to Earth, called “Dimaan,” has two moons. The first, called “Kuu,” stands in for our present moon, while “Lluna,” becomes a second moon through orbital capture.

Our present moon is thought to have formed within 200 million years of Earth’s formation, and was likely created when a Mars-sized body slammed directly into the planet. This impact created a ring of debris around Earth that eventually bunched together under its own gravitational attraction to become the moon we know today.

In short, a second moon would likely alter life on Earth in some pretty significant ways. Here are five ways that existence on our blue planet would change with two moons in the night sky.

Read More: Earth’s Moon: The Basics of its Origin, Evolution and Exploration

1. Tides Would Be Significantly Bigger

Our ocean tides result from a combination of the moon’s gravitational force, which pulls oceans towards it, and the force directed away from the moon caused by the Earth’s rotation around the barycenter, the point around which two celestial bodies orbit.

This center of mass for both orbiting bodies is located over a thousand miles beneath the Earth’s surface. Technically, it’s what the moon orbits around, rather than the planet Earth itself. If a second moon were added to the equation, the effect would be dramatic.

“The tides on earth would be eight times higher than the tides created by our moon today,” says Comins.

Erosion issues would also be more pronounced, and would occur far faster than we currently experience. This would drastically affect our civilization’s ability to live and build on coastlines or near the mouths of rivers. In the latter case, deeply-carved tidal channels would cause tidal waves known as tidal bores to run up the mouths of rivers, inundating whatever’s in the way.

Read More: The Moon Affected Ancient Earth In Weird Ways 2.5 Billion Years Ago

2. Moonlight and Eclipses Would Increase

Twin moons would create a nighttime surface five times brighter than what we currently experience during a singular full moon. This would be bright enough to easily read a book without additional lighting, Comins writes.

A brighter environment would also likely impact how people and animals behave in predator-prey cycles, he adds. Camouflage might become more refined for those seeking survival, possibly leading nocturnal creatures to develop more refined senses for hunting.

A second moon would also change the nature of eclipses. As Comins writes, the reason eclipses don’t happen monthly is because our moon is tilted five degrees relative to the elliptic, or the plane defined by Earth’s orbit around the sun. As such, solar ellipses only happen when a new moon crosses that plane, and lunar eclipses when a full moon crosses the plane.

“There would be significantly more eclipses,” says Comins. “When the closer moon is particularly close, there would be an eclipse every month, or every orbit of that moon.”

The second moon’s umbra — the shadowy area that darkens the Earth during an eclipse — would also cover twice the area that the first moon does. “It would effectively block the sun every time it orbits, assuming that the orbit is in the plane of the [ecliptic] Earth-Sun system,” adds Comins.

Larger solar eclipses, however, would last slightly less time than those we currently experience (which generally top out at no more than seven-and-a-half minutes). That’s due to Johannes Kepler’s third law of orbital motion, which states that moons orbiting closer to a planet do so faster than a moon that’s farther away.

Read More: Forget the Cheese: The Moon Was Once a Very Dangerous Place

3. Lunar Cycles and Calendars Would Change

The moon takes about 29.5 days to complete a lunar cycle. If a second moon existed at half the distance to Earth, it would go through the same cycle of phases but only take about 10 days to complete.

It would be a cycle so rapid that residents of Earth would be able to see the second moon in different phases within the span of one evening or day, Comins says.

And because the time-keeping unit of a month is based on the lunar cycle, civilizations that developed with two moons might have more convoluted calendars as a result. In addition to days, weeks and years, there might be more reliance on the “parmo,” or partial month, Comins writes. A similar unit of time that might see renewed use would be the “fortnight,” which lasts for 14 days.

Read More: Here Are 4 Reasons Why We Are Still Going to the Moon

4. The Sky Would Be Prettier

If Earth’s second moon had a noncircular orbit, the gravitational pulls it would undergo might result in a moon like Jupiter’s Io: in other words, covered with volcanoes.

This activity, Comins says, would likely be the result of the changing distance from Earth, stressing the moon’s surface and causing a tidal effect. The solid part of the moon’s interior would undergo friction, which would create heat-melting internal rock and lead to lava-heavy eruptions on the surface.

There would be so many eruptions, in fact, that a second moon would likely have few impact craters due to frequent covering by fresh lava, Comins writes. Some volcanic debris might leave the moon’s surface and be shot into space, either forming a debris field around Earth or entering our atmosphere.

The latter would result in far more frequent shooting stars — the streaks of light created when bits of space debris burn up inside Earth’s atmosphere — than any meteor shower we currently experience, as well as more possible meteorite impacts.

Read More: What Are Moonquakes: The Causes and Different Types

5. The Moons Would Eventually Collide

Our moon is very slowly moving away from Earth at a measurable distance due to the complexities of gravitational push and pull between the two bodies.

If a second moon existed, it too would be affected by these forces. The moon closer to Earth, Comins writes, would likely move away from us faster than the moon that’s farther away, eventually leading to a cataclysmic collision.

Shortly before that collision, gravitational forces exerted on each other would cause the moons to crack open, emitting lots of glowing lava. Finally, the moons would impact, appearing to break apart in slow motion and sending debris in all directions.

While Earth’s atmosphere would likely keep smaller debris from surface impact, it’s plausible that larger meteors would fall to Earth’s surface, causing potential mass-extinction. Still, the remaining debris would likely form a ring around Earth — and in time, a new single moon would again grace the night sky.

Read More: The Moon Is Even Older Than Scientists Thought

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Discover Magazine – https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/5-ways-life-on-earth-would-be-different-if-we-had-two-moons

Tags: EarthscienceWould
Previous Post

Top 10 Snow Animals and How They Survive the Cold

Next Post

Why Did Our Nomadic Ancestors Settle Down? They Wanted To Own Stuff

Underdogs Czechia take out Serbia in straight sets at Men’s Volleyball World Championship – Volleyball World

Underdogs Czechia take out Serbia in straight sets at Men’s Volleyball World Championship – Volleyball World

September 15, 2025
The Market Isn’t Lagging – It’s Distorted: Why Investors Must Stop Treating the S&P as the Economy’s Crystal Ball – MSN

The Market Isn’t Lagging – It’s Distorted: Why Investors Must Stop Treating the S&P as the Economy’s Crystal Ball – MSN

September 15, 2025

From Spinal Tap II to Ed Sheeran : your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead – The Guardian

September 15, 2025
A multibillion-dollar oil project is impacting locals’ health and livelihood in Uganda – NPR

Multibillion-Dollar Oil Project Threatens Health and Livelihoods of Ugandan Communities

September 15, 2025
Politics chat: Assassination of Charlie Kirk and the rise of political violence – NPR

The Alarming Rise in Political Violence and the Threat Facing Charlie Kirk

September 15, 2025
Washington takes on flawed federal climate report – NewsRadio 560 KPQ

Washington Challenges Key Flaws in Federal Climate Report

September 14, 2025
James Webb telescope’s ‘starlit mountaintop’ could be the observatory’s best image yet — Space photo of the week – Live Science

James Webb Telescope Unveils Stunning ‘Starlit Mountaintop’ – Perhaps Its Most Breathtaking Image Yet

September 14, 2025

Colby College Announces Exciting New $150 Million Science Facility Funded by Anonymous Donor

September 14, 2025
Maine Coon Cat’s Sweet Love Story With Tiny Sphynx Kitty Is Touching Hearts – yahoo.com

Adorable Maine Coon and Tiny Sphynx Share a Heartwarming Love Story

September 14, 2025

Unlocking AI Success: How People, Process, and Technology Form the Ultimate Triangle

September 14, 2025

Categories

Archives

September 2025
MTWTFSS
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930 
« Aug    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (820)
  • Economy (840)
  • Entertainment (21,718)
  • General (17,042)
  • Health (9,884)
  • Lifestyle (855)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (843)
  • Politics (849)
  • Science (16,050)
  • Sports (21,340)
  • Technology (15,822)
  • World (823)

Recent News

Underdogs Czechia take out Serbia in straight sets at Men’s Volleyball World Championship – Volleyball World

Underdogs Czechia take out Serbia in straight sets at Men’s Volleyball World Championship – Volleyball World

September 15, 2025
The Market Isn’t Lagging – It’s Distorted: Why Investors Must Stop Treating the S&P as the Economy’s Crystal Ball – MSN

The Market Isn’t Lagging – It’s Distorted: Why Investors Must Stop Treating the S&P as the Economy’s Crystal Ball – MSN

September 15, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version