#Tag
A once-in-a-lifetime shot — the moon perfectly framed by a rainbow.
via tithsokphanny31
The famous photo 'earthrise' is a bit misleading - the title at least. An inhabitant of the moon wouldn't see the Earth move in the sky significantly, because the moon is tidally locked to the Earth. It was only an earthrise when seen from an orbiting spacecraft.
Tidal locking occurs when one body is deformed gravitationally by another. In this case the water of Earth's oceans are pulled by the moon. It is possible for both bodies to be tidally locked - Pluto and Charon are like this and thus fixed in each other's sky.
I don't know if it is possible for only the larger body to be tidally locked to its orbiting companion but I don't see why not. The moon would need to be more deformable than the planet I think.
The famous photo 'earthrise' is a bit misleading - the title at least. An inhabitant of the moon wouldn't see the Earth move in the sky significantly, because the moon is tidally locked to the Earth. It was only an earthrise when seen from an orbiting spacecraft.
Tidal locking occurs when one body is deformed gravitationally by another. In this case the water of Earth's oceans are pulled by the moon. It is possible for both bodies to be tidally locked - Pluto and Charon are like this and thus fixed in each other's sky.
I don't know if it is possible for only the larger body to be tidally locked to its orbiting companion but I don't see why not. The moon would need to be more deformable than the planet I think.
A once-in-a-lifetime shot — the moon perfectly framed by a rainbow.
via tithsokphanny31
