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2 votes

Is it possible to achieve a stable "selenostationary" orbit around the Moon?

All of the other answers in this thread are completely correct, however I think there's a point missed by focusing only on the Moon-Earth system. Any tidally locked moon will always have its ...
user267545's user avatar
6 votes

What is the ring of light around the moon and which star seen near it?

Answering only the 2nd question, "There is a star near the moon. Is this Venus?", as others have noted, it's not Venus, it's Jupiter. But it's interesting to note that, assuming the moon in ...
scottbb's user avatar
  • 161
4 votes

What is the ring of light around the moon and which star seen near it?

The ring you are referring to is called the Moon Ring. Although not clearly visible in your picture. Attached below is one I clicked on the night of 24th November 2023 from my phone. The ring appears ...
Disip Chaturvedi's user avatar
10 votes

What is the ring of light around the moon and which star seen near it?

tl;dr astrophotographers shouldn't carry their cameras in their pockets :-) I took photos of the Moon and Jupiter with my cell phone last night as well. I keep my phone in my pocket and the lens ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 31.4k
14 votes

What is the ring of light around the moon and which star seen near it?

If the photo is from today (24 November 2023), then the "star" is Jupiter, a planet. It's hard to see any ring around the moon in the photo, but rings are typically due to high clouds, and ...
Dr Chuck's user avatar
  • 4,304
4 votes

Celestial "orbits"

The model of the elliptical orbit is a close approximation of the reality—and even Kepler knew that, when he wrote that “orbits are ellipses.” In reality, gravitational interactions between the Sun, ...
Pierre Paquette's user avatar
5 votes

Celestial "orbits"

You are right. But you miss a few quirks of reality, or some fine-print of the applicable physics. Yes, the Moon is moving away from Earth as slowing down Earth's spin rotation means that angular ...
planetmaker's user avatar
  • 17.5k
8 votes
Accepted

Celestial "orbits"

Physical theories describe how things change in given circumstances (if the theory is right). In practice this means that they are applied in simplified ways, where the simplifications of ...
Anders Sandberg's user avatar
3 votes

sideways crescent moon but also no moon somewhere else?

the moon looked like a crescent moon but sideways like a bowl Yes that is a good description of how the moon would look from Sumter this morning. It is completely normal for the moon to look like ...
James K's user avatar
  • 116k
33 votes

Why did Theia create only one moon if it struck Earth?

Most simulations generate multiple moonlets and streams that then fall into Earth, merge into the moon or escape (e.g. like this or this). The initial orbit tends to be close to the Earth. This means ...
Anders Sandberg's user avatar

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