http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=75e_1258653471

I thought this was really interesting. I think it would look amazing, looking up in the sky and see that would be quite something. Yeah you would get used to it but people who see the Northern Lights always say you look at them in wonder every single time. This would cause issues in a few things like satellites etc but still, interesting thought.

Quite a cool concept. Would have made navigation a heck of a lot easier in the past too

Wouldnt work with the moon. Would only see them for six months of the year. Probably wouldnt have helped much with navigation (specifically longitude) given the rings would be in too much of a state of flux to have discrete navigation points and, if the rings were in a geostationary orbit, satellite communication would be impossible.

But but... it would look pretty!

Quote from: GoblinWouldnt work with the moon. Would only see them for six months of the year. Probably wouldnt have helped much with navigation (specifically longitude) given the rings would be in too much of a state of flux to have discrete navigation points and, if the rings were in a geostationary orbit, satellite communication would be impossible.

and if you couldnt use the rings themselves for navigation, chances are youd be struggling with stars because the rings would outshine them. It would be like having a full moon constantly for 6 months at a time

They would block out sunlight and starlight from behind them so they would still have visible effects giving their position.

The gravitational effect of the moon would certainly disturb any ring formation, but lets forget about little issues like that. Lets also forget that Saturn is effectively a system in itself, nothing much is close enough but outside its system to have any effect on the rings, earth has Mars and Venus to contend with.

The sunlight gets reflected off the ring, some areas would be hotter than at present while others would receive considerably less light, this would disturb the atmosphere. Some areas at least would be very difficult to live in.

Then within a few weeks to months wed take it for granted.

Quote from: GoblinWouldnt work with the moon. Would only see them for six months of the year. Probably wouldnt have helped much with navigation (specifically longitude) given the rings would be in too much of a state of flux to have discrete navigation points and, if the rings were in a geostationary orbit, satellite communication would be impossible.

Given its all a hypothetical situation...lets say you traded the moon for the rings

Yes then we have other problems such as the tides etc I know...

Would have though flux or no, itd still give you an approximation of which way is east/west.

If the rings were along the horizontal axis of the earth itd be better

We have been making our own since the 1950s.


A computer-generated image of objects in Earth orbit, mainly satellites and space junk.

Quote from: zpyderGiven its all a hypothetical situation...lets say you traded the moon for the rings

Yes then we have other problems such as the tides etc I know...

Without the moon you might lose the tides but that isnt really a problem, we can live without them.

The gas giants would exert an incredible influence on the earth, the tilt angle would move and you would be in weather problems, the earth might end up uninhabitable.

A lack of tides would cause quite a bit of disruption to sealife, a large portion of species rely on the littoral zone for breeding and feeding. So does the moon prevent the gas giants from throwing us about the place?

As I said, Not without issues and questions but still, would be pretty cool.

Quote from: zpyderSo does the moon prevent the gas giants from throwing us about the place?

It acts as a stabiliser might on a bike, preventing extreme variations in angle of tilt to the sun. The effect is cumulative, both Mars and Venus are believed to have had this sort of thing happen.