Hello all, some questions for our resident astronomers.
Now, I'm one of those people who believes that you can pretty much find all kinds of strange planets and orbits in our universe and that anything is possible. There's a diamond planet for crying out loud.
So...is it possible for a moon to orbit only one side of a planet or only a small part of it? Maybe only the very top so it misses the rest?
Also, how close can a Moon possibly get to a planet without crashing into it?
Basically, I'm writing a story where much of a planet is uncharted. The heroes have visited the Moon and can look down below but will shocked to learn that the Moon only goes up and down and not around and around and so, they aren't seeing the entire planet. Plus it is very close, close enough for clouds to obscure their view. The moon is tiny. Now, this is a fantasy...so I can always pull the 'because magic' but I'd rather not because people don't like it.
If my thinking doesn't work, I might just have to make it some weird floating rock instead of a moon or something.
Now, I'm one of those people who believes that you can pretty much find all kinds of strange planets and orbits in our universe and that anything is possible. There's a diamond planet for crying out loud.
So...is it possible for a moon to orbit only one side of a planet or only a small part of it? Maybe only the very top so it misses the rest?
Also, how close can a Moon possibly get to a planet without crashing into it?
Basically, I'm writing a story where much of a planet is uncharted. The heroes have visited the Moon and can look down below but will shocked to learn that the Moon only goes up and down and not around and around and so, they aren't seeing the entire planet. Plus it is very close, close enough for clouds to obscure their view. The moon is tiny. Now, this is a fantasy...so I can always pull the 'because magic' but I'd rather not because people don't like it.
If my thinking doesn't work, I might just have to make it some weird floating rock instead of a moon or something.
Last edited: