Re: CONCULTURE: dual planets
From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
Date: | Thursday, November 18, 2004, 1:58 |
Simon Richard Clarkstone scripsit:
> However, if two bodies are tidally locked (e.g. Pluto and Charon), the
> orbital distance will not change (if their orbits are elliptical, tides
> will tend to make them more circular), and the planets will have the
> same view of each other in the same place in the sky all the time.
Eventually the solar tide will push two unequal-sized tidally locked bodies
out of sync again, and the Moon will come spiralling in. But this will
never actually happen, because the Sun will probably have become a red
giant before tidal locking is achieved, never mind before it begins to
change.
--
I marvel at the creature: so secret and John Cowan
so sly as he is, to come sporting in the pool jcowan@reutershealth.com
before our very window. Does he think that http://www.reutershealth.com
Men sleep without watch all night? --Faramir http://www.ccil.org/~cowan