redshift1100 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Hi, Say the moon doubled in size magically, what would keep it from becoming part of the Earth again? I guess I'm asking what would have to happen to stabilze the orbit of the two objects if one just suddenly became larger ? Would one have to spin faster? or conversely move away from the other ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janus Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 At present, the Moon has an average orbital speed of 1.015 km/sec. If it had twice the mass, its mean orbital speed at the same distance would only have to be 1.009 km/sec. Thus, if it suddenly doubled in mass (and nothing else changed) then it already would be moving faster that it needs to in order to maintain its existing orbit. To compesate it will change its orbital eccentricity to raise its average orbital distance. This adjustment will just happen as a consequence of the change in mass. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redshift1100 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Thank you for responding so succinctly, it was a pleasure reading it and helped me understand things a bit better. Thx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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