Re:Was There a Civilization on Earth Before Humans?
by ianai on Saturday April 20, 2019 @03:51PM
(#19708518)
That’s my point though. The moon hasn’t degraded and crashed into the earth so it’s clearly possible for a satellite to orbit the earth indefinitely - for some suitable definition of indefinite.
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Re:Was There a Civilization on Earth Before Humans?
by scottie_m on Saturday April 20, 2019 @04:28PM
(#19708701)
The moon’s orbit is taking it further from Earth over time, it it’s very far away and very massive, as well as being influenced by the Sun. A satellite’s mass is almost negligible, and compared to the Earth-Moon distance it’s distance from Earth is too. A pebble hitting the moon also isn’t going to do much to change its course, while the same pebble will do a lot more to a satellite. The same is true of dust.
Re:Was There a Civilization on Earth Before Humans?
by stouset on Saturday April 20, 2019 @05:37PM
(#19709013)
The moon has a ton of mass and—therefore—inertia. The chaotic effects of the system are still present, but require dramatically larger timescales to notice any kind of effect.
Re:Was There a Civilization on Earth Before Humans?
by gpm on Saturday April 20, 2019 @04:25PM
(#19708688)
The moon's stability is a good point, but not conclusive. The moon's orbit isn't perturbed by it's own gravity. It's also much larger, so much more mass (radius cubed)/surface area (radius squared), so less affected by solar wind, micro meteor impacts, and the like.