Our moon is on the move, each year it drifts an estimated 1.5 inches further away from the earth and in the process Earth’s rotation is actually slowing down. What if one night the moon simply disappeared, would we miss it?
A full moon is on average 14000 times brighter than the next brightest night sky object after Venus so without it every night would be as dark as a new moon and stargazing would be spectacular but by the next morning you’d begin to realize just how important is for life on earth, to start between the sun Earth’s rotation and the moon. The moon has the largest influence on Earth’s tides, without it high and low tides would shrink by an estimated 75%. This would jeopardize the lives of many types of crabs, mussels and sea snails that live in tidal zone and disrupts the diets of larger animals that rely on them for food. Threatening entire coastal ecosystem in the process within a few decades we would start to see mass population declines in the sea and so on.
Land one of the largest spawning events in the world occurs in the Great Barrier reef each November and the days following the light of a full moon coral colonies across the reef spanning an area larger than the state of New Mexico release millions of sperms sacs within nearly minutes of one another. Scientists are certain that the full moon plays a role in the timing but exactly how a mystery remains. On land animals like these red crabs also use lunar cues to reproduce. After living most of their lives on the mountains millions of adult crabs migrate down to shore and then only during the last quarter of the moon females release their eggs into the sea. Now the moon may not hold as much as a way as human reproduction but without it something we care equally about would change the weather, tides and tidal currents help mix cold arctic waters with warmer waters in the tropics. This balances temperatures and stabilizes the climate worldwide. Without the moon weather forecasts would be practically impossible. The average difference between the hottest and the coldest places on the Earth could grow to life threatening extremes but none of this compares to the biggest change that we would have coming over the next millennium.
Right now earth tilts on an axis at 23.5 degrees mostly due to moon gravity if the moon disappeared Earth’s axis would wobble between anywhere from 10 to 45 degrees. Some experts estimate that Jupiter could help keep earth’s tilt from reeling completely out of control but even just an extra 10 degree tilt could wreak havoc on the climate and seasons. In past earth’s tilt has changes by about 1-2 degrees which scientist think could have caused ice ages in past. It’s hard to know what a 10 degree or 45 degree tilt would do but probably nothing good for most life on Earth. The moon isn’t just imperative for life on Earth today; experts believe that it might have also played a key role in the formation of life more than 3.5 billion years ago. Turn out the moon isn’t just a beacon of light in the night sky its existence is crucial to the delicate balancing act that makes life here possible.
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