What If Saturn Replaced the Moon?

the Moon is the Earth's closest space neighbor and its only natural satellite it likely formed when a huge mar-sized object crashed into our planet billions of years ago I wasn't around then this catastrophe turned Earth into a scorching ball of molten rock it also pushed some material into its orbit creating the moon now this heavily cratered sphere moves around our planet this causes high and low tides around the globe a bit more than one-fourth the size of Earth it's the fifth largest natural satellite in the solar system the moon has several phases for example new full or crescent moon first and last quarter but whatever the satellite looks like you can always find it in the night sky and sometimes even during the day but imagine waking up at night and noticing that the Moon looks somewhat different than usual it seems brighter and bigger it's hardly noticeable especially when you're half asleep you go back to bed unaware that instead of the Moon you've just seen Mercury close up this planet the nearest to the sun is similar to our natural satellite its surface is littered with craters left by space rocks Mercury is about two-fifths the size of our planet but it's still a bit larger than the moon that's why the planet would have a greater influence on Earth Knights would become brighter High Tides would become higher and low tides what do you think lower yup the lunar cycle that's the time the moon or rather Mercury now needs to go through all the phases would become 14 hours shorter but all in all such a replacement wouldn't have any drastic consequences for our planet but then how about Venus what if instead of the familiar satellite we swap in the third brightest natural object after the sun and the moon it's often called Earth's sister Planet because their mass and size are nearly the same Venus would be as large in our sky as Earth once appeared to the Apollo Astronauts when they looked at it from the moon's surface the Morning Star would be much brighter than the moon for one thing the planet reflects six times more sunlight plus it would occupy an area at least 16 times larger that's why nights on Earth would be as bright as early Twilight now if you looked at Venus you'd spot vague swirling patterns in the planet's yellowish white cloud cover Venus wouldn't become Earth satellite the two planets would likely orbit around their Common Center of mass and this orbit would be quite eccentric like me but if Venus moved with the same speed as the moon has now the two planets would crash into each other in the nearest Future okay let's pull another Switcheroo it ours was up there in the sky instead of the Moon you'd surely notice it even without a telescope you'd be able to Marvel at its unusual color and dark spots on its surface and even if you didn't see the red planet you'd still feel something unusual Mars is half of Earth's size but several times larger than the moon replacing a smaller space body with a much bigger one would upset the delicate balance on our planet if you were unlucky to be at the seaside when Mars took the moon's place you'd have to evacuate as soon as possible massive waves would rise in the oceans under Martian influence they would crash against the shoreline like the largest tsunamis Mars would be reflecting more sunlight than the moon Knights would be lighter terrestrial Landscapes would have an eerie red tint and you'd be able to admire the tallest mountain in the solar system Olympus Mons through a telescope Mars isn't large enough to change the Earth's orbit dramatically but with time the two planets would probably begin to orbit each other creating a binary Planet system and since Mars would literally be next door voyages to this planet would become a reality okay now think really big if Jupiter replaced the Moon Earth as an independent Planet wouldn't exist anymore it would instantly turn into another Moon of the largest planet in the solar system The only positive moment in this transformation people would have an awesome Sky View Jupiter is dozens of times larger than the moon a gigantic beautifully striped sphere would cover nearly all the Horizon if you had time to enjoy the show you'd see yellow brown red and white clouds floating in Jupiter's atmosphere sadly the gas Giant's gravitational pull would instantly cause severe earthquakes volcanic eruptions and tsunamis Earth's mantle and crust would be drawn toward Jupiter which would break the planet apart it'd be stretched and compressed with such force that its surface would bulge back and forth by more than 300 feet unfortunately Earth's speed is only 10 percent of the speed needed for us to stay in Jupiter's orbit that's why our sluggish Planet would crash into the gas giant in less than a day well that sounds unpleasant so let's not do that now if Saturn were to replace the Moon it would be a sight to be whole the planet is more than 35 times larger than our satellite it means the giant Golden Globe would cover 18 degrees of the sky and its rings would stretch even further from Horizon to Horizon hey if you like it then you should have put a ring on it Earth would be a bit further away from the gas giant than its own Moon Dion and since Saturn is way more powerful than our planet Earth would turn into its satellite not the other way around unfortunately Earth's rotational speed wouldn't be enough to keep up and we'd most likely crash into the much larger Planet within a day or two but before burning up in Saturn's atmosphere we'd have to pass through its magnificent rings they're made up of pieces of comets asteroids and shattered moons it wouldn't be an easy feat to get through this space debris plus our planet would have to avoid Saturn's moons all 53 of them but what if the fall didn't happen and Earth did turn into Saturn's 54th Moon then the gas Giant's gravitational pull would lead to massive tectonic shifts all over our globe they would be tearing the planet's crust apart until there's nothing left not good either both Uranus and Neptune are ice giants these planets are the same size larger than Earth but smaller than Saturn and Jupiter they both have icy Interiors deep atmospheres and similar color very beautiful bluish green if either of these planets replace the moon the consequences would be the same so let's flip a coin okay it would be Neptune you'd see in the sky one day Neptune is 14 times larger than the moon the planet would look like a bright blue hot air balloon in the sky not only at night but during the day too it would appear to be 15 times larger than the sun if everything else remain the same a solar eclipse would seem to continue for ages once the sun vanished behind Neptune's Edge our planet would be plunged into complete darkness for no less than an hour and a half Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and its gravitational pull is much stronger that's why our planet would end up as a satellite yep again it would orbit Neptune slightly further than its own largest moon Trident by the way there would be a great risk of Earth colliding with this space body but let's assume we were lucky enough not to cross path with Neptune satellites he even so there would be more than enough problems on our hands Ties on our planet would become a thousand times more powerful than those caused by the moon Neptune's gravitational force wouldn't pull Earth apart but it would heat our planet up the seismic activity would increase setting off earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and probably allows up the internet too we've discovered Kepler-22b a small exoplanet in the cygnus constellation seems like nothing important right but it's actually a big deal this is the first planet located in the habitable zone that was found by the Kepler telescope in other words there may be water on this planet and if there's water there may be life Kepler-22b can become our new potential home so let's take a closer look at it actually discovering new planets is not easy at all not all of them can be seen through our super cool telescopes even the almighty Hubble sometimes the stars are so small and dim that it's really hard to find them on a map the same thing happened with kepler-22 in such cases scientists have to use a special method first they take a bunch of photos of the star in different periods of time then they look at them and think Hmm are there any dark dots on this star somewhere and if they find one that might be a planet these photos actually help us to discover some very important stuff like first of all this planet exists secondly here is its size radius and proximity to the star and finally will we be able to live there now we know that Kepler-22b is very similar to our planet and could potentially become a second Earth it's also very close to us only 635 light years away yeah it's about three quadrillion miles but this is one of the closest options kepler-22 the star of Kepler-22b is a yellow dwarf it's very very similar to our sun the same size the same radius even the age is almost the same 4 billion years the difference is only in Luminosity it's about 20 percent dimmer than the Sun so no matter how much you strain your eyes you won't see this star in the night sky the planet Kepler-22b is about 2.4 times larger than our Earth and that's pretty good more radius means more potential water and space to live although going from one city to another would take a while it's scary to even imagine a three-day long plane flight we don't know the exact mass of this planet but scientists think it's bigger than Earth's actually the mass of Kepler-22b can be up to 36 times greater than that of our planet what does it mean vigorous gravity if the planet is 36 times heavier than Earth then gravity there will be about six times stronger can you barely lift 20 pounds of potatoes try 120. not to mention that you yourself can become much heavier on that planet you'll have to get incredibly pumped up just to walk there you have to literally turn yourself into a bodybuilder just to get to work the worst thing is that with such gravity it'd be incredibly difficult for plants to survive there they'd need at least a little freedom to Rise Up from the ground and animals our dogs and cats would have to turn into little balls of muscle to survive there but if this planet has its own animals or other inhabitants we can roughly imagine what they may look like they probably have a lot of legs to make moving easier they aren't really tall but they're very massive and extremely strong hmm muscular giant spiders could be worse I guess the good news is that this is all unconfirmed information if we're very lucky and gravity there turns out to be just a bit stronger than Earth's then of course it'll be much easier to live there the next thing we know about Kepler-22b is that it's about 15 percent closer to its star than we are to the sun if Kepler-22b existed in our solar system it would be located somewhere between Earth and Venus does that mean we're all going to burn no silly as I mentioned before the star kepler-22 is pretty cold just some 10 000 degrees Fahrenheit and that's why we can assume that the temperatures on Kepler-22b will be about the same as we have on Earth if the planet orbits its star the same way Earth orbits the sun which we don't actually know Kepler-22b can rotate around its star on its side like for example Uranus what didn't you know Uranus is actually lying on its side also look at its rings yes Uranus also has rings like Saturn but they're vertical the universe is truly a mysterious place so if Kepler-22b is really something like that then the weather on the planet will be to put it mildly not very good incredibly cold Winters will be regularly followed by hot summers and just like with tidally locked planets we'd be able to live more or less comfortably only on the narrow piece of land between these two crazy sides let's hope that this is not the case and the planet rotates normally but it's not all that bad studies show that there may be an ocean on Kepler-22b you already know that water means life but in this case it's also a big plus because a planet covered by an ocean always has more stable temperatures the water absorbs some of the Heat and distributes it evenly across the planet the hot Parts cool down and the icy ones warm up by the way that's exactly what happened to Earth billions of years ago when our planet started getting its first little puddles our beloved Moon helped these puddles to spread all over the planet thanks to this a burning horror that used to be our Earth turned into a cute little ball full of life so if Kepler-22b has water but no atmosphere scientists think that the average temperature there could be around 12 degrees Fahrenheit but if there's also an Earth-like atmosphere then the temperature can reach 72 degrees Fahrenheit that would be nice and finally one year there is equal to 290 Earth days about nine months the planet has no natural satellites so unfortunately we'd have to say goodbye to a beautiful view of the moon on the bright side we'd probably be able to see the Sun as a distant Little Star we could admire it in the night sky remembering our home well not hiding from giant spiders and this is all that we know at the moment unfortunately it's quite difficult to explore such planets so there's a lot of very important data that we don't know for example what kind of planet is this anyway yep we're missing the most important information about Kepler-22b we don't know if it's a rocky planet or not and if not then all the previously mentioned information means nothing it may turn out to be a gas planet or a planet covered with gas but with a solid core like Neptune or a water world covered with a giant ocean in this case it better be a water Planet then at least we could build some kind of underwater city there we could filter the water and eat fish until we evolve into an amphibious species does it even count as Evolution if we go back to our roots scientists however think that Kepler-22b may turn out to be a neptune-like planet some astronomers have even assigned the planet to a category of many Neptunes yes this is a real planetary category but this hasn't been proven yet but even if fortunately for us Kepler-22b turns out to be a rocky planet we still don't know what the atmosphere is like there does it exist at all what if it turns out to be something like the atmosphere of Venus which is more toxic than your ex then we'd have to dig deep underground to somehow survive on this planet and then we'd have to come up with a heat Source because it's pretty cold underground yeah let's hope this won't be the case there are many possibilities with Kepler-22b so far we don't have a clear answer but let's hope that scientists will find it before we load the first people into shuttles and send them to conquer Kepler-22b that would be awkward if it turns out to be a gas planet or something like that you're on a plane heading to an important astronomy convention when you see a large figure outside your window that eclipses the whole Sun you spit out all of your coffee and everyone in the plane stares outside in shock you then notice that it has rings like Saturn you were supposed to fly to Japan but you're forced to land in California as soon as you land you look up in the sky and see some more giant planet-like structures floating around in the sky everyone is taking pictures and trying to figure out what's going on suddenly you notice a huge ball of fire crashing down near the airport everyone scrambles for safety and luckily it ends up in the middle of the runway with no one around the bad news is there's no more runway for planes to land everyone huddles together for safety and more large objects appear in the sky all Communications have ceased or broken down since these large objects have ruined all the sadness lights some scientists nearby mention that these objects are the planets of the solar system going within the same proximity as our moon Mercury and Venus look like moons but Saturn is occupying a lot of sky real estate you tell those scientists that you're an astronomer they invite you to join them on a trip to Antarctica to the observatory station in the South Pole they need every mind to help solve this mystery you get on a ship with the coordinates set to Antarctica the waves are extremely rough for typical daylight and non-stormy weather you finally make it to the shore of the continent after a few days and have to get in a snowmobile all the way to amundsen Scott's South Pole station over here you and a group of scientists will figure out what's going on you weren't prepared for the freezing temperatures even though it's July you arrive at the station and see all your fellow scientists running around with paperwork and blurting out stuff about planets orbiting our atmosphere you arrive at the conference room where the lead scientist explains what's going on one by one the planets are coming closer to us until they're aligned with the moon but they still don't know why and how Venus arrived first and now Saturn is getting closer the Moon is around 240 000 miles away from Earth and it affects the tides of the oceans and seas with its gravitational pull since water is less dense than land we can see the tides change so high tides occur when the earth is pulled towards the moon and since the other planets are coming closer to Earth the gravitational pull is erratically changing in a couple of hours Saturn will be in the same distance as our moon you head to the large telescope and observe the planets any plane or helicopter won't fly properly and won't have the proper radar technology to help it you keep observing and notice Mars getting closer to Earth you get news that tidal waves are rising very often now and some island nations are even being washed away good thing they got evacuated beforehand with Mars closing in you notice Neptune also getting closer you can feel the gravity on Earth fluctuate with every step you take you report your findings to the lead scientist and the only way for survival is to quickly build bunkers far away from oceans and seas that can host many people before the other planets close in a team of Engineers arrive and start building wave after wave of survivors come and settle into the bunkers practically built overnight with every hour more planets are getting closer Mars and Neptune have already settled in with Mercury Venus and Saturn Pluto and Uranus are now visible to the unaided eye and are making their way towards Earth the gravitational pull is getting completely out of hand the snow in the Antarctic desert remains floating for several seconds whenever someone walks on it you can jump a lot higher it's now night time but the sky isn't dark as usual the planets are reflecting a lot more sunlight than our moon it's barely visible now with more observations you notice comets and meteorites flying very close to our atmosphere some are even crashing down on Mars and Neptune everyone can see it from Earth other space debris also Finds Its way into Earth's atmosphere but you notice something strange the planets are now orbiting Saturn you check your calculations and find out that the planet's positions are now aligned with Saturn's orbit that's because it has the biggest Mass among all the planets Saturn's rings are made up of ice particles some as large as a bus and others as Tiny as Pebbles but they're all crashing and interfering with the other planets no one can feel the orbit shift at first but later you can start to feel it with this happening earthquakes and volcanoes are bound to happen this is why everyone including yourself is packing up and ready to flee Antarctica has dozens of volcanoes hidden beneath the frozen ice some are underground while some are right on top Saturn's gravitational pull is much stronger than Earth's gravitational pull on the moon this will cause the inner core to react a lot more and kick start those earthquakes and volcano eruptions everyone packs up super quick and heads to the Choppers to fly to South Africa these Choppers were designed to have a direct course without the need for Radars to guide them you arrive in South Africa which is mainly covered in water the chopper takes you closer to the center and then you travel to the Sahara Desert the plane surface with nothing around it will be the best option for safety but you look up in the sky and see another planet closing in it's Jupiter the biggest planet in our solar system if Earth were the size of a grape then Jupiter would be the size of a basketball it's approaching quickly many of the other planets automatically Make Way for it including Saturn you're on the road heading to the Sahara even though it'll take days to reach by car the sky is dark during the day since most planets are blocking the Sun you finally make it to the Sahara desert with other scientists and to your surprise a whole city was erected in just a month when the planet started showing up you settle in your dorm but still have a lot of work to do a couple of days later Jupiter breaches the atmosphere and completely eclipses us but Earth is now rotating around it and it's much quicker than orbiting the Sun since Jupiter is smaller but since Saturn is also big Earth keeps getting tossed from orbit to orbit like two people playing a ball game with each other so with that happening people on Earth are experiencing different gravitational pulls from time to time the tidal waves keep getting stronger and volcanoes are erupting everywhere since the earth's core is getting hotter the temperature on Earth is also changing and with a lack of sunlight most of the time much of the plant life is having a hard time trying to keep up crops are harder to plant with natural sunlight so people are turning to artificial Lighting in greenhouses air and space travel are impossible the International Space Station is completely ruined along with the satellite's orbiting space that's why cell phones and the internet can't work gravity is even more dysfunctional than ever six months later Humanity has found some way of coping with the new normal but things are constantly being updated the number of hours in a day has changed as well as days that compose a week this used to be measured with the moon phases a month used to be the moon achieving All Phases from none to Full Moon and so on but Earth's moon has disappeared with the cluttered disorganized planets

Channel: BRIGHT SIDE Series

Views: 27,957

Keywords: analytical skills, beautiful facts about space, bright side, bright side riddles, bright side space facts, bright side videos, brightside, creative thinking, critical thinking, facts about solar system, facts about space, facts of life, improve your memory, interesting videos, intriguing videos, mysteries, puzzles, recent space discoveries, riddles, spaces, strangest planets in space, what if, what other planets look like

Id: P69aCvw2Dwk

Length: 25min 2sec (1502 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 03 2023