New answers tagged moons
2
They do it in steps.
Very little is known about the Moon, so they need probing. The probing will consist in a small group of the most powerful mages available, wrapped in all sorts of protective spells, that will teleport to the Moon and back for longer and longer times - initially they will stay there for as little as they can, maybe less than one second. ...
1
Observation
If they are as witty and knowledgeable as you imply, they make some educated guesses without risking their own neck. You won't become an old wizard by blindly trying to manipulate the elements. You will be a textbook case.
Observations derived from deep in the oceans: Air bubble may be crushed, with wizard body included without proper pressure ...
2
The moon's surface gets very hot during the day - up to 100 degrees C, water's boiling point - and very cold during the night - -173 degrees C, far colder than any natural environment on Earth. The good news is that as long as they are protected from actually touching the surface, they could survive for quite a bit longer than you'd expect in these ...
11
The short version is that it depends entirely on the manner in which the moon disintegrates, or more specifically the energy thus imparted on the resultant fragments.
I'm assuming here that the mass remains roughly the same, so nothing like matter-antimatter annihilation. I'm also assuming that the moon is large enough to begin with to become roughly ...
5
Something similar it is thought to be happened when our Moon formed, as a consequence of the impact of the proto-Earth with a planet the size of Mars, called Theia.
There are 3 paths that the fragments can follow:
fall on the planet, bombarding it
leave the local system, if they have enough velocity to escape the planet gravity well
coalesce back into ...
1
You have three questions here.
1. How high can a geostationary Sweden be visible from South Africa?
Answer: 68,100 km
This is a question that humanity has pondered since we first climbed down from the trees.
The other answers are correct that if two points are more than 90 degrees apart on the globe, they cannot see each other at any height (unless the ...
1
depends on the technology your inhabitants have available; the quick and relatively easy is mirrors to enhance the sun's energy in concentrated regions; or you might be able to tap the huge electro-magnetic forces of the gas giant somehow. Your gas giant is big enough to give off heat on its own without being a brown dwarf, but if your people have the ...
9
Let's establish some notation:
The star is labelled $S$, the giant planet is $P$ and the moon is $M$.
The diameter of the star is $d_S$, the diameter of the planet is $d_P$ and the diameter of the moon is $d_M$.
The radius of the orbit of the planet is $r_P$ and the radius of the orbit of the moon is $r_M$.
At a distance equal to the radius $r_M$ of the ...
3
Using a completely comparative approach, rather than a direct calculation approach, here's my best answer:
Totality of an eclipse involving the actual Sun, Earth, and Moon can last up to 7 minutes and 31 seconds.
The orbital period of this moon around its planet takes about 1 1/3 as much time as it takes for the moon to orbit the Earth, so it seems ...
7
Your initial configuration, with the two moons orbiting perfectly out of phase, is not a stable one.
Over time their orbits will change very slightly as the result of various random effects, such as asteroid strikes, which will not affect both moons identically. The moons will tug on each other in surprising ways. Just read up on the three body problem and ...
1
If you imagine an idealised planet with a star at an infinite distance, how much of the planet can see it? The answer is half: the star projects a cone that rests on an equatorial line perpendicular to the direction it lies in. Those standing on that equatorial line are looking along the tangent to the curve of the surface of the planet.
So the basic ...
53
There is no atmospheric height any object of any size can be, perpendicular to the location of Sweden, that could be seen by anyone standing anywhere in South Africa.
I don't need math to prove this. Just take out a piece of paper, draw a circle, and use a ruler to start drawing lines. That combination cannot be done.
Alternatively, visit maps.google.com,...
6
This answer is fundamentally flawed in that it assumes that the 'horizon' formula is valid for any value of h.
Unfortunately, this is simply not true, and as the image shows, it is only a valid approximation when h is much less than RE
(RE >> h)
If you can see something depends on how high you are, and how high is what you look at:
Africa is ...
84
Given Sweden has a latitude of 60° N and south Africa of a bit over 30° S, you can never see one from the other no matter how high one is and no matter how small the planet is (as long as it still is big enough to allow you to neglect the distance between your eyes and the surface).
The Sweden simply rises further away in the hemisphere invisible from South ...
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