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Re: CONCULTURE: First thoughts on Ayeri calendar system

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Monday, November 15, 2004, 16:54
Carsten Becker wrote:

> I don't know any astronomer. A Physics teacher might help, but it sounds > like a hell of much Physics, so ... I'm not that good at Maths and > Physics, > you know.
This is my problem too :-((( However, the lessons, data/advice and formulae at http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/courses/builders/lessons/Vless.html might be helpful. It doesn't venture into multiple-moon systems (except to say IIRC that they're complicated), but does give useful info for a single-moon. The math required was certainly within my humanistic capabilities (a very pleasant surprise). (It doesn't deal with tides etc., or climatology either, which is unfortunate.) 2-3 years ago, the List had a member (Tom Tadford(?) Little, IIRC-- need to look it up in the Archive) who was knowledgeable about astronomy; he may be lurking, or available in some way. These two latest contributors appear to be knowledgeable too, and I wonder if they're willing to offer any help---
> On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 19:16:57 -0500, Erich Kummerfeld <elk03@...> > wrote: > > > >Having two moons instead of one will do very, very strange things to the > >tides > >of your planet, if it has water. When the moons align there will be > >incredibly severe high and low tides which would likely be cataclysmic, > >so > >some sort of interesting ecological system would no doubt evolve at the > >shorelines to take advantage of this. The two moons would also do > >strange > >things to the currents in the oceans. If you want to develop a realistic > >world then you should calculate not only the moons distances and their > >periods, but also their masses and the effect each individually would > >have on > >the oceans.
I've posited two moons for my planet Cindu, but have never been able to do much about their orbits. One is larger than our moon, farther away; the other very small and irregular in shape-- perhaps a captured asteroid, or a chunk broken off from the main moon. IIRC the easiest idea was that it orbited the main moon. (I think--hope!-- I still have the figures, derived with the help of the Cal State site mentioned above) ------------------------------------------
> On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 01:45:52 +0000, Simon Richard Clarkstone > <s.r.clarkstone@...> wrote: > > >3-body systems are chaotic and hence (in the general case) not stable. > >Generally, the smallest of the three bodies ends up either hitting > >something or getting flung away.
Uh-oh. Either one moon would be too small/far away
> >to be easily seen, or the moons would form a pair, and hence stay close > >to one another in the sky (interesting but not what you are > >describing)....
Probably relevant to my proposed system.......
>
Find an astronomer to help with
> >all the difficult bits, being at university helps. (but I don't even > >know if you're 8 or 80)
Well, make that "18 to 70" for Carsten/me, respectively...:-) Neither of us, alas, seems to be near a university. It appears we could both profit from some good help and advice-- if either of you gentlemen are so inclined. Do you know of anything useful (intelligent-amateur level) that's on-line? Since this is basically Off-Topic, best if we discuss privately. I did work my way thru the Cal State course website, but the results may have got lost in the course of computer changes, virus disasters et al....will have to look.

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Sylvia Sotomayor <kelen@...>