• StudSpud The Starchy@aussie.zone
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    13 days ago

    Last night I learned that Pluto and Charon are tidally locked with each other, so Charon appears to not move in Pluto’s sky.

    Our moon is tidally locked with us, so it always shows us the same side, but it moves through the sky because Earth isn’t tidally locked with it.

    Mind blown 🤯

    • tombruzzo@aussie.zone
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      13 days ago

      The Brian Cox series on ABC has a bunch of interesting stuff about this. I think one of Jupiter’s moon’s moons isn’t tidally locked to the moon itself, but another point in space of it’s elliptical movement.

      Then you can look up Alpha Centuri and the suns and planets that orbit each other

    • CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone
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      13 days ago

      Our moon is tidally locked with us, so it always shows us the same side, but it moves through the sky because Earth isn’t tidally locked with it.

      For the non nerds but mildly curious this means that the moon spins at the same time that earth moves and that’s the reason we don’t see the dark side of the moon.