The Moon.
Our lovely, faithful orbital.
Our sidekick for over 4.5 billion years.
Saturn – the second largest planet in our
solar system.
The regal ringed yellow planet which all but
dwarfs the earth.
What mischief and chaos would reign if it
were to eye up the moons pretty spot in our
cosmic line up?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest
Questions, the channel that looks to answer
exactly those, as well as some totally ridiculous
questions along the way – I am your host
Rebecca Felgate and today I am asking What
if the Moon was Replaced by Saturn.
Before we delve deep into this video, I want
to ask you which planet in our solar system
is your favourite other than beautiful Earth..
I’m going with Mars… because…MARS!
Our moon plays an important role.
Life on earth is much the way it is because
of the moon.
It’s gravitational pull slows the earth
day down to 24 hours, it determines how we
spin on our axis, it makes our tides bulge,
it brings light to our night sky.
The Moon is 384 thousand and 400 kilometres
away from us and is 1 thousand seven hundred
and thirty seven kilometres in radius.
The earth is three and three quarters times
bigger than moon… but do you know what is
even bigger?
Saturn.
Saturn is 58 thousand, 232 kilometres in radius,
33.5 times bigger than the moon.
If the earth was orbited by something 33 and
a half times bigger than it already is…things
would change.
Dramatically.
Saturn has a mass of nearly 100 times the
earth – we know that gravity works by attracting
objects of a lower mass to those of a higher…so
we would be irrevocably drawn in to Saturn.
That being said, Earth is still pretty gravalicious
– yeah scientists – take that for a term.
While Saturn will well and truly ruin us by
replacing the moon, we would do some damage
to the gas giant’s trade mark rings.
Saturn’s rings are made up of little ice
particles.
These would start to gravitate towards earth,
breaking up the ring party.
What was left of the rings would also probably
end up being destroyed by the new smaller
distance to the sun.
Right now,
Saturn’s rings are surviving and thriving
1.43 billion kilometres from the sun… but
transport that to the moons location of 150
million kilometres away from the sun, very
roughly ten times closer, then those icy rinks
would be out of here.
Also, many of Saturn’s entourage of 62 moons
are made up of ice.
They would be out of there too, or vastly
shrunk.
See ya, Enceladus, ta ta Titan.
Hasata La Vista Atlas.
Okay, I am having way too much fun with a
question that basically ends with we all die.
Oh, didn’t I mention that bit yet?
Yeah, sucks to be us, as if Saturn replaced
the Moon it would basically be one giant Earth
is over party.
If the Earth were able to survive Saturn’s
gravitational thrall then we would find our
days longer as our orbit around the sun was
slowwwwed way down.
Or…maybe we would start orbiting Saturn,
in which case, maybe they would be quicker…
but the entire meaning of a day and a year
would have entirely changed and it would all
be a bit of a calendar headache!
Also, those poles we have gotten used to,
the cold north and south…well…all that
may change if our axis changed.
At the moment, Earth is tilted 23.6 degrees,
but that would likely change if Saturn was
in our celestial hood.
Yeah, but Rebecca, get back to the world ended,
we don’t care about the poles….
I mean in generally really should, but I will
admit that at this point, yes, we do have
bigger fish to fry.
You know how the moon creates tidal bulges?
Wellllll Saturn…being over 33 times bigger
would create HUGE tidal bulge waves that would
sweep across the earth in massive Tsunamis
– Disaster relief wouldn’t be helpful
at this point as our cities would be washed
away and us, and our animal friends would
drown.
Eventually, if a planet as large as Saturn
was as close to the earth as the moon, the
earth would begin to rip apart with the force
of gravity – hurtling rock at Saturn in
a final f you – you beast.
The silver lining, if you can call it that,
would be the Saturn lit sky that we could
enjoy before our ultimate demise.
Saturn reflects 47 % of the light it receives,
whereas our moon just 12 percent!
Hard to believe, considering our moon is so
shiny!
As well as Saturn’s moons being visible,
Saturn itself would take up much of the sky
and at night, provide a lot more light.
Lovers could take a stroll and nuzzle up by
Saturn light … until the life ending floods
begin, anyway.
So there we have it, that is what would happen
if the Moon was replaced by Saturn!
A fun concept to ponder, but not fun in practice,
unless, you know… you want total inhalation.
SO….
What did you guys think to this video?
Is Saturn anyone’s favourite planet?
Let me know in the comments section down below.
Also, while you are down there, why don’t
you leave a thumbs up and click on that notification
bell?
I am your host Rebecca Felgate, I will catch
you in the next video, but until then, stay
curious, stay alert and never ever stop questioning.
