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uncomfortable levels of eye contact (mander.xyz)

submitted 10 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 71 points 10 months ago

[-] sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago

Thank you Eiji Aonuma, very cool.

[-] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 56 points 10 months ago

Aside from being a meme, the factoid isn't even true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Moons

All twenty known moons in the Solar System that are large enough to be round are tidally locked with their primaries [planets]

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 4 points 10 months ago

https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/429/the-moons-orbit-and-rotation/ This is a good one too!

[-] Embargo@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

It just says other moons. Not all other moons. Meaning the meme isn't untrue... Right?

[-] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

Pedantically speaking, yes. At least some small moons do freely rotate. But they are all very small and very far from their parent planet. If you were on the surface, you wouldn't see details.

Mars has two small moons close to it, but neither rotate relative to the surface. They're also really small and zip about super fast so they're cool for other reasons.

[-] oce@jlai.lu 1 points 10 months ago

I was skeptical thank you for the confirmation. Especially because the time it takes to lock depends on the relative size of the bodies. Our moon being exceptionally big relatively to our planet, if it has locked, then relatively smaller moons should have locked long before.
Btw, the locking is not perfect, there's a little oscillation of the moon called libration, so we can actually see about 59% of it over the years.

[-] KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world 43 points 10 months ago

Knows that we aren't to be trusted, can't turn it's back on us for a second.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 11 points 10 months ago

Or is it just waiting for its second chance to hit us?

[-] Kase@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Second chance???

[-] ericisshort@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

The moon is not to be trusted. It’s hiding a secret alien base on its dark side.

[-] KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

It's not aliens, it's Nazis, moon Nazis. (Lookup "Iron Sky" if you don't know it.)

[-] ivanafterall@kbin.social 27 points 10 months ago

All of the other moons are severely autistic. Ours is balls-out confident. "Yeah, bitch, what. You blinked."

[-] uphillbothways@kbin.social 20 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's tidally locked to earth. Earth isn't tidally locked to it. Happens slowly due to gravity and differential mass. Relatively stable satellites end up tidally locked given the time. Pretty sure lack of water/liquids/atmosphere hastens the process.

[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 32 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yeah, Earth's moon isn't the only satellite to tidally lock to its planet. In fact, several are.

Photos and Deimos are tidally locked to Mars. 8 of Jupiter's moons and 15 of Saturn's. Pluto and Charon.

Mercury is tidally locked to the sun, but it's in 3:2 resonance rather than 1:1.

[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

Now those are some fun facts.

[-] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 11 points 10 months ago

Can you ELI5 that last one?

[-] brianorca@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Mercury orbits the sun every 88 earth days. It spins on its axis every 59 earth days, relative to an outside observer (sidereal day.) That makes the solar day (from sunrise to sunrise) 179 earth days long.

[-] Kase@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

So in a certain sense, a 'day' on Mercury is 2.034090909090 'years' long? (Solar day divided by orbiting the sun, lol)

[-] brianorca@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

No. I rounded off the numbers. A Mercury day is exactly 2 Mercury years. Which is why it's "in resonance". That means that gravity will speed up or slow down the rotation to keep the ratio stable over time.

[-] Kase@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Oh that's really neat!

[-] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago

Guys please upvote we all need an eli5

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 13 points 10 months ago

The Moon .... shocked and stunned to see that life survived after that impact .... and to see the idiots that evolved after

[-] topinambour_rex@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Homo sapiens is just a spark from moon's pov.

[-] cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

It needs to face us so it can tell our tides what to do. If it turned around the tide wouldn't hear it.

I thought this was a science community?

[-] EtherWhack@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

The earth isn't flat, the moon is

[-] RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

I might believe this one.

[-] NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

No please not another one

[-] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

PROLONGED EYE CONTACT

[-] DepressedCoconut@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Boo?

[-] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

AH! You started me, I didn't see you there.

[-] cybervseas@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

We're just soooo good looking 🙂

[-] topinambour_rex@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's the heaviest part of the moon which face us. And even when it will reach it's farthest and definitive orbit ( the moon slowly move away from us), it will still the same face toward us.