Imagine gazing up at the night sky and instead of seeing one moon, you see two radiant orbs shining back at you. In this alternate reality, one of these moons is about the size and brightness of our current moon, while the second moon is four times larger and brighter. From this second moon, fountains of lava burst from volcanoes, creating space debris that enters our atmosphere and produces meteor showers more stunning than any we know today.
These are just some of the possibilities for our world if we had two moons of equal size, with the second located about halfway between Earth and our current moon. What would life on Earth really be like if we had two moons instead of one?
Astrophysicist Neil F. Comins pondered this very question in 2010 when he wrote his book, What If the Earth Had Two Moons?: And Nine Other Thought-Provoking Speculations on the Solar System, exploring the various possible answers to this intriguing scenario.
In his book, Comins offers readers 10 different scenarios for how life on Earth would be significantly different in the presence of two moons.
For instance, he describes a hypothetical world similar to Earth, called “Dimaan,” which has two moons, “Kuu” and “Lluna,” each playing a unique role in transforming the planet’s physical and biological systems.
Our current moon is believed to have formed within 200 million years of Earth’s creation, likely resulting from a massive collision with another celestial body. This impact created a ring of debris around Earth, which eventually coalesced under its own gravitational force to become the moon we see today.
With a second moon in the equation, life on our planet would undoubtedly undergo profound changes. Here are five ways in which our existence on this blue planet would be altered with the presence of two moons in the night sky.
Learn more: Earth’s Moon: The Basics of its Origin, Evolution and Exploration
1. Tides Would Be Significantly Bigger
Our ocean tides are a result of the moon’s gravitational force pulling oceans towards it, combined with the force directed away from the moon caused by the Earth’s rotation around the barycenter, the point around which two heavenly bodies orbit.
This point of gravity for both orbiting bodies is located over a thousand miles below the Earth’s surface. If a second moon were added to the equation, the effect on tides would be monumental.
“The tides on Earth would be 8 times higher than the tides produced by our moon today,” states Comins.
Erosion issues would also be more pronounced,
