AboutJesse Martinez Expertise General and specific questions about solar system and galactic astronomy, cosmology, are what I can easily answer off the top of my head. For example, what is the largest planet in the solar system? How far away is the moon? Have there been any confirmed planets in orbit around stars other than the sun? How many stars are there? The tougher ones like explaining the big bang theory and black holes I will leave to the PhD’s. Even though I could muster an answer, but would have to research it more than I would like. Would also like to answer questions that involve Astronomy with other sciences, chemistry, biology, physics, geology and mathematics as long as they are not PhD level.
Experience I have been into astronomy since I was 8 years old. I have kept detailed journals of my observations through small telescopes. Over the years I have participated in amateur observation projects for organizations like ALPO. My personal research has involved "discovering" the moons of Jupiter with a 4½-inch Newtonian reflector. In a summer long project, I determined the existence of and plotted the orbits of the four major moons of Jupiter. From these observations, my data on orbital elements was surprisingly accurate (e.g. orbital radius and orbital period).
Education/Credentials 80 hours of college credits while studying physics and geophysics. Completed correspondence photography course while in high school. Took two semesters of electronics training at a community college. Studied computers and graduated from a technical school at the turn of the millennium, gaining A+ and Microsoft Certified Professional credentials.
Hablo Español. Si quieres preguntar en Español, estoy a su servicio.
Question What would occur if a rocket was launched from earth with enough force to push the moon further from the earth without significantly damaging the moon, but with enough force to push the moon away from the earth? {read that as a pure force being applied to the moon from the direction of earth}
Answer Well Barry, I doubt that any rocket could exert enough force to move the moon in such a manner. Even if it/they were placed on the surface, and we lined them up with the sole intent of thrusting the moon away from the earth, none of our modern day rockets would cause any noticeable change unless the thrust could be sustained for many, many years. But I can address the question of what would happen theoretically.
If the moon were to suddenly become more distant from the earth, the changes that would be most evident would be the earthquakes caused by the change in the gravitational attraction between the two bodies, and the tidal changes of the oceans. If the change happened over the period of a few minutes or hours, and lets say the moon was moved twice as far out, the earthquakes would be devastating. There are many delicate fault lines around the earth that could be triggered by such a change. (Yes, California might fall into the sea and such). The disruption of the tidal waves would not be as immediately devastating aside from the tidal waves caused initially by the collapse of the fault lines under the sea. The long term changes caused by the disruption of our tides, in this case becoming less pronounced over time would probably be the ultimate killer. I believe the ecological changes caused by such a sudden change would totally unbalance our already delicate ecosystem.
With the coastal flooding and the destruction of a lot of our infrastructure and large areas of the world could be without electric power, fresh water and food and... it is getting too morbid to think about.
