Re: Just to be sure: Planet with multiple moons

On Fri, 9 May 2008, "nuny@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <Alien8752@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> grumbled:
>  It doesn't help that the popular media seem to help perpetuate this
>sort of stumpidity (mind if I make up a word?). Ever watch the
>American TV series _Smallville_?
>
>  A typical establishing shot in the show is the exterior of the Kent
>farm's barn at night with a crescent moon in the sky. With the horns
>pointing DOWN.

Oi.  Well, obviously the moon's orbit is highly inclined to the
ecliptic in the show's universe (says Phil, twisting his neck to see
if that would do it).

Then there's just about every anime ever, in which (I can only presume
for artistic reasons) the crescent moon is painted as a literal
crescent.  I.e., large illuminated circle with a smaller shadowed
circle at an interior tangent (or close thereto).

The rest of the time, there's a dramatic closeup in which a character
is standing on the roof of a skyscraper, silhouetted against a full
moon that covers about 20 degrees of arc.  I don't think there are any
lenses that can do that...

....but you could always drag the moon into a closer orbit to achieve
this romantic effect, as in the 2003 Jim Carrey movie "Bruce
Almighty."  And then cause hideous tidal disturbances.  Dummy.  That's
what you get when you attempt to apply God-scale powers without proper
astrophysics training.  Surely a gravitational lens would've been a
better solution. :)

Anyone want to gripe about the vids in which Luna is shattered, and
the fragments just lazily hang around the same vicinity, like a large
round cheese somebody's dropped on the floor?

--
** Phillip Thorne ** pethorne@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 **************
*  RPI CompSci 1998                                    *
** underbase.livejournal.com ***************************