It would be a natural revolution. At least four phenomena would undergo major changes: the tidal cycle, the length of days, night lighting and the number of lunar eclipses. That’s because our satellite exerts a great influence on the rise and fall of the oceans, on the Earth’s rotation speed (which determines the length of days) and on the amount of light reflected from the Sun here. In the infographic on the side, we explain all these changes in detail, assuming that our blue planet had two more moons, the same size as the “original” and at equivalent distances, 384 thousand kilometers from here. We are traveling in this assumption, but the idea is not so absurd: some researchers swear that the Earth already has more than one moon! This thesis is highly polemical, but one thing is certain: we will never get close to the number of moons of the planets farthest from the Sun. Astros such as Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto are located in a region of the solar system with low temperature, more favorable to the formation of moons. “The cold prevented the blocks of ice resulting from the Big Bang – the mega-explosion that would have created the universe – from thawing. Over millions of years, they joined together with pieces of stone and metal, forming satellites attracted by the gravity of larger planets”, says astronomer Amelie Saintonge, from Cornell University, in the United States. Among the planets far from the Sun, Jupiter has 16 known moons, Saturn has 18, Neptune has eight and Uranus beats the record, with 21. The only exception is the last planet in the solar system, Pluto, which has only one solitary moon – the planet is small and failed to attract other stars. Comparison with the planets close to the Sun, where there was less raw material to form moons, reveals an astronomical difference in the number of satellites. Mercury and Venus have no moons, Earth only has one and Mars has two.
ENDLESS DAY
The Moon also influences the length of days. With three moons the same size as the current one, the trio’s gravitational pull would triple the time it takes Earth to revolve around its axis. The days would last 72 hours. It would be enough to enjoy a late afternoon on the beach at 45:30!
NEITHER HOT NOR COLD
Even with 36-hour mornings and nights, the change in rotational speed would not be enough to change the planet’s thermometers. That’s because Earth’s temperature is most affected by Earth’s orbit around the Sun, which would remain unchanged.
NEW LIFE
For some animals, life with three moons would change dramatically. Butterflies, which have their metabolism activated at sunrise, could take longer to stop being larvae because of the longer days. And shrimp, which use the tides to move across the oceans, could move faster.
BIG BEACH
Due to the influence of the Moon, the oceans alternate high and low tides every six hours. If we had three moons, it is likely that this gap would be shorter. And the tidal range (the farthest point it can reach) would be much greater. With that, we would have bigger beaches — and plenty of space for beach soccer
NATURAL REFLECTOR
When full, the Moon reflects 9% of the Sun’s luminosity. With three moons, the nocturnal reflection could reach 27%. The triple full moon nights would have purple skies, similar to late afternoon. Worse for astronomers, since the luminosity makes it difficult to see the stars
COMMON DISMISSAL
An obvious finding: with more moons, the number of lunar eclipses would be greater – it would be common for one to enter behind the Earth’s shadow and disappear. The great phenomenon would be the «triple eclipse», when the three stars were in the shadow zone projected by the planet
Scientists have been investigating this possibility since amateur astronomer Bill Yeung discovered an unidentified star near Earth. Named Cruithne, this celestial body is 5 kilometers in diameter and completes a revolution around the planet every 770 years. Therefore, some researchers argue that this space rock is, indeed, an Earth moon. But most astronomers think that Cruithne is just an asteroid circling the planet by mere coincidence — not Earth’s influence. “Cruithne’s orbit is very inclined in relation to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. There is probably no gravitational attraction between the two stars. Therefore, it is not possible to say that we have a second moon”, says astronomer Lynn Carter, from Cornell University, in the United States.
Read too:
– What would the Olympic Games be like on the Moon?
– How do the phases of the moon influence the tides?
– What is the Blue Moon?