Our moon is a remarkable thing. Not only does it illuminate the night sky it also affects the Earth in various others ways, and without it, we would suffer no end. Below are just a few examples of some of the things that could happen to our planet if the Moon were destroyed.
- Every day would be the same the length – no matter what. Currently, our day lasts 24 hours, but back when dinosaurs were about, there were only 22 hours in the day. A few billion years ago, there were only about 10 hours in the day. This is all because the Moon slows down the rate at which our planet rotates, and while it might only be fractional and happen every so often, it all adds up. But, if there were no Moon, every day would be 24 hours no matter what until eventually, the Sun burns all its fuel.
- Debris would come crashing into Earth. If the Moon were destroyed, we would certainly feel the impact. If it were only a small blast the debris would reform into one or more new moons, but if it were too strong, everything would be obliterated, and all that would remain would be a ringed system around the Earth. Eventually, because of the Earth’s atmosphere, lunar fragments would de-orbit, and impacts on Earth would be probable.
- We would lose our bridge to the rest of the Universe. The Moon is relatively close to the Earth (380,000 km or a rocket journey of around three days), hence why so many of NASA’s missions have focused on it. Mars or Venus would be the next closest entity to explore, but both of these would take far longer to get to.
- We would see a much brighter night sky once all the leftover pieces of the Moon had gone as there would be no barriers to the dark skies.
- The planet’s axial tilt would become unstable with the Moon acting as its stabilizer. It’s estimated that without the Moon the Earth’s tilt could exceed as much as 45 degrees at certain times, causing the planet to spin on its sides.
- There would be no more eclipses of any sort as there would be no moon to pass across the Sun’s light.
- Our tides would shrink. No longer would we experience high and low tides. Due to the Moon’s regulating properties, if it were destroyed, the tide would remain the same size all the time.
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