What if there was no Moon?

Conscious TV

June 29, 2021

I'm sure you've asked yourself this question before. Our planet is unique for several reasons, but one of them is that it has a very large satellite, the moon.

In fact, we can say that we form a double planetary system, something truly anomalous among the planets that make up the Solar System. The Moon is born in the early stages of the Earth and after the impact of an object larger than Mars. As an appetizer, if there were no Moon, eclipses would disappear and nights would be much darker than they are today. The tides would also be affected and would be smaller, in fact it is said that they could be a third of what they are now. The opposite of the birth of this satellite which, being closer to the Earth, could have tides as high as 9 metres.

But the most disturbing thing would be what would happen to our own planet. The Moon plays an essential role in the stability of the Earth's movements. On the one hand, the presence of the Moon slows down the Earth's rotation, in a very subtle way (in the order of a few microseconds per year). Of course, if we consider the age of the Earth, we are talking about no more and no less than 5 billion years that our planet has been circling the Sun, which is a very high figure.

Moreover, without the Moon, the day would not last 24 hours but between 6 and 8 hours.

With no Moon, the orientation of the Earth's axis would not remain stable and would experience very chaotic variations over time. That we enjoy a regular and periodic succession of seasons over millions of years is undoubtedly thanks to our beloved Moon.

An example of the latter is Mars. The red planet has two tiny moons and its axis of rotation has shifted 60 degrees in the last 10 million years (by comparison, the Earth's axis oscillates only 1.5 degrees every 41,000 years).

And if we talk about the climate consequences of a chaotic variation of the rotation axis, it would make it very difficult for life to evolve as it has on Earth.

Now when you look at the Moon every night you will see it with different eyes.