The Moons are Blimps

[+Lotus]

There are a number of issues with Lumar's cosmology. 

With the size of the moon that they are in the Lumar sky, they should reasonably be smashing into the planet, not in stable orbits. And even if we ignore that, with that many moons in that close of an orbit, they should all be smashing into each other. 

But this doesn't happen, because apparently the moons don't move. The seas stay in the same place! 

Don't move, huh? So we have twelve moons around the planet, none of which are orbiting it? And far too close to be in stable orbits anyway?

It's okay though, I can dismiss a lot. Perhaps theirs some distortion effect that makes the moons appear bigger without actually being really bigger.

But then we learn that the moons send produce spores that fall to the earth. So... the moons must really be that close then, huh? And it must not have it's own gravity, because otherwise the spores would stick to it.

It is here that I propose my grand theory.

The moons are blimps.

Oh now, I hear what your saying 'what, what?'

However, if the moons are blimps, then they can be much closer to the actual earth, without causing gravity issues or crashing into it. It would make sense that the spores would follow Lumar gravity, because a blimp wouldn't have much gravity of its own. It can just be floating up there, not moving, sending spores down to the earth. 

The moons are secretly just giant blimps in the sky. I rest my case.

[Werewolff Studios]

8 minutes ago, Lotus said:

There are a number of issues with Lumar's cosmology. 

With the size of the moon that they are in the Lumar sky, they should reasonably be smashing into the planet, not in stable orbits. And even if we ignore that, with that many moons in that close of an orbit, they should all be smashing into each other. 

But this doesn't happen, because apparently the moons don't move. The seas stay in the same place! 

Don't move, huh? So we have twelve moons around the planet, none of which are orbiting it? And far too close to be in stable orbits anyway?

It's okay though, I can dismiss a lot. Perhaps theirs some distortion effect that makes the moons appear bigger without actually being really bigger.

But then we learn that the moons send produce spores that fall to the earth. So... the moons must really be that close then, huh? And it must not have it's own gravity, because otherwise the spores would stick to it.

It is here that I propose my grand theory.

The moons are blimps.

Oh now, I hear what your saying 'what, what?'

However, if the moons are blimps, then they can be much closer to the actual earth, without causing gravity issues or crashing into it. It would make sense that the spores would follow Lumar gravity, because a blimp wouldn't have much gravity of its own. It can just be floating up there, not moving, sending spores down to the earth. 

The moons are secretly just giant blimps in the sky. I rest my case.

This is actually somewhat reasonable. If the moons are basically hollow, and have a lot less mass than their size would suggest, it helps quell the gravity/ Roche limit problem a little.

[+Lotus]

33 minutes ago, Werewolff Studios said:

This is actually somewhat reasonable. If the moons are basically hollow, and have a lot less mass than their size would suggest, it helps quell the gravity/ Roche limit problem a little.

Exactly! And if the moons are like, filled with hydrogen, that helps the problem even more.

[lacrossedeamon]

40 minutes ago, Lotus said:

There are a number of issues with Lumar's cosmology. 

With the size of the moon that they are in the Lumar sky, they should reasonably be smashing into the planet, not in stable orbits. And even if we ignore that, with that many moons in that close of an orbit, they should all be smashing into each other. 

But this doesn't happen, because apparently the moons don't move. The seas stay in the same place! 

Don't move, huh? So we have twelve moons around the planet, none of which are orbiting it? And far too close to be in stable orbits anyway?

It's okay though, I can dismiss a lot. Perhaps theirs some distortion effect that makes the moons appear bigger without actually being really bigger.

But then we learn that the moons send produce spores that fall to the earth. So... the moons must really be that close then, huh? And it must not have it's own gravity, because otherwise the spores would stick to it.

It is here that I propose my grand theory.

The moons are blimps.

Oh now, I hear what your saying 'what, what?'

However, if the moons are blimps, then they can be much closer to the actual earth, without causing gravity issues or crashing into it. It would make sense that the spores would follow Lumar gravity, because a blimp wouldn't have much gravity of its own. It can just be floating up there, not moving, sending spores down to the earth. 

The moons are secretly just giant blimps in the sky. I rest my case.

Technically the moons are orbiting assuming the planet itself is rotating. It’s just that their orbital period is the exact same length as the planet’s rotational period making them geostationary. The issue with this though is that to be geostationary (as opposed to just geosynchronous) it has to be above the equator with zero inclination which is obviously not the case here.

This an interesting work around to why the spores don’t seem to be affected by the moons’ own gravities and why they can be so close. But I think there is still an equilibrium problem in that over time the blimps would either escape the planet’s gravity or would become less buoyant and crash anyways.

[HSuperLee]

Is this building towards a "that's no moon" moment?

[Werewolff Studios]

17 minutes ago, lacrossedeamon said:

Technically the moons are orbiting assuming the planet itself is rotating. It’s just that their orbital period is the exact same length as the planet’s rotational period making them geostationary. The issue with this though is that to be geostationary (as opposed to just geosynchronous) it has to be above the equator with zero inclination which is obviously not the case here.

This an interesting work around to why the spores don’t seem to be affected by the moons’ own gravities and why they can be so close. But I think there is still an equilibrium problem in that over time the blimps would either escape the planet’s gravity or would become less buoyant and crash anyways.

One theory that I had is that the moons are (in the vaguest sense) acting as a form of living space elevator. The spores that the primal Aethers drop are a form of Invested anchor - a living line keeping each moon equidistant from its neighboring Aethers. Kind of like a Helium balloon floating on a string.

That way, even if gravity would usually cause the moon to draw nearer or further from the planet's surface, the moons current position is the perfect distance for the Aether within. It's the Investiture that's binding it in place. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Werewolff Studios
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[lacrossedeamon]

2 minutes ago, Werewolff Studios said:

One theory that I had is that the moons are (in the vaguest sense) acting as a form of living space elevator. The spores that the primal Aethers drop are acting as a form of Invested anchor - a line keeping each moon equidistant from its neighboring Aethers. Kind of like a Helium balloon floating on a string. That way, even if gravity would usually cause the moon to draw nearer or further from the planet's surface, the moons current position is the perfect distance for the Aether within. It's the Investiture that's binding it in place.

Agreed that the only way this system works is if Investiture holds it all in place somehow.

[Werewolff Studios]

32 minutes ago, lacrossedeamon said:

Agreed that the only way this system works is if Investiture holds it all in place somehow.

For sure, and given the amount of power that the Aethers seem to have (to the point that they think themselves older than all other Investiture) it's probably within their wheelhouse and power scale. 

[SpinningSky]

Good thinking!

I was pondering this cause it really makes sense for them to be hollow and somehow kept in the air through investiture (so kinda like blimps)

Another thought crossed my mind though, what if instead they're repelling each other? could it be that the different aethers repell each other like same charged particles?
It would explain how the moons hold each other in place staying still, and how the seas stay separated 

[drunkenbotanist]

Random thought but we know that one side effect of the presence of the aethers is A LOT of air production, enough to make the the seas traversable.

 

Could the blimp aether be floating on top of a sea of air? The aethers could be doing something to keep the atmosphere in, or keep it concentrated enough that they stay up. In this idea, the "stilling" would be course corrections. 

Brandon loves his reversals, and it would be a fun one if the emerald sea actually meant the sea (of air) the emerald aether was floating on. 

 

[+Oltux72]

On 16.1.2023 at 5:10 AM, lacrossedeamon said:

Agreed that the only way this system works is if Investiture holds it all in place somehow.

In fact it seems to be semistable if we assume that they repel each other. As gravity attracts them to the planet there should be a height of equilibrium where their mutual repulsion is as large as the planetary gravity. They would also spread out to the corners of a regular polyhedron. If we further assume that a moon is also repelled by spores of the other kind, it might even be a stable configuration.

[Govir]

On 2/3/2023 at 3:07 PM, Oltux72 said:

In fact it seems to be semistable if we assume that they repel each other. As gravity attracts them to the planet there should be a height of equilibrium where their mutual repulsion is as large as the planetary gravity. They would also spread out to the corners of a regular polyhedron. If we further assume that a moon is also repelled by spores of the other kind, it might even be a stable configuration.

This was my thought as well. Attracted to the planet, repelled by the other moons. My gut says there could be an equilibrium there, and having 12 actually feels like it'd make it easier to do.