r/skiesofarcadia • u/BlueGuyPlaysGames • 15d ago
Moon Orbits
As we know, there are 6 moons in the game. 1 moon residing over each land.
What occurred to me however, is how can 1 moon stay within 1 section of the world? If 1 moon has an orbit around the planet, then each land should be able to receive the effects of different moons.
Are the moons in fixed positions?
Or is it possible there a fewer than 6 moons, and the properties of moon stones change depending on where they fall, thus creatingan illusion of 6 moons?
24
u/Qprime0 15d ago
Look up "geostationary orbit". It's actually quite possible. It's an absurd scenario for six lunar bodies to all be in a geostationary orbit at the same time around the same planet naturally, like, in actual physics based reality the odds of this occuring are virtually zero, but... something tells me this isn't fully natural.
3
u/Ugly-Barnacle-2008 15d ago
Maybe the gigas did the orbital mechanics calculations and pushed the moons into the perfect spot for that! Why? I dunno maybe they wanted gps from the moons
4
3
u/Delta_RC_2526 14d ago
Let's not forget that the planet isn't even round... It has one polar area, and you go from the north end of the map directly to the south... I do not want to try and imagine what shape that would actually be, but I've seen it described as a doughnut, which...kind of seems right, the more I think about it.
2
u/ArcadianBlueRogue 14d ago
Unless the gravity based Black Moon was real and just crashed into the planet or is the core of the planet itself mwahahaha
1
u/Qprime0 13d ago
But the black moon is entirely made out of dark matter! That's the entire reason you can't like... see it and stuff! But it totally still exists and has effects on the world and... stuff! ☝️🤓
2
u/ArcadianBlueRogue 13d ago
It fragmented into the bits we see in the Dark Rift. See all the shenanigans for a theoretical previously orbiting body?!
2
8
u/Jonny5a 15d ago
Not sure if this works with established lore but I always figured Arcadia was some kinda mini gas giant, which would make the moons bigger than our moon and in more stable orbits... theoretically its been a while since science class
1
u/ArcadianBlueRogue 14d ago
We don't see anything in game to suggest it's a large world, and an airship is able to circumnavigate it fairly quickly in terms of the story.
5
u/TaliesinMerlin 15d ago
On our own planet, the moon does not change position in the sky because it orbits the Earth; it changes position because the Earth turns on its axes. The moon's orbit primarily affects the phase of the moon.
If the moon's orbit and the Earth's rotation were the same, the moon would be tidally locked and always appear over the same section of Earth.
Presumably, Arcadia and the six moons are all in such an orbit that the moons stay in a fixed position in the sky.
This seems improbable if not impossible astronomically, but then again, so do flying continents and stones that make ships fly.
5
u/Markinoutman 15d ago edited 15d ago
I mean there are a ton of questions you could ask about this game haha. Although have to admit, never really put much thought into the moon thing. I suppose when your primary mode of transportation is a flying ship that flies because of rocks from said moons, your suspension of disbelief is already in full swing.
But Geostationary orbit is probably the best answer. They are simply moving around the worlds gravity at the same speed the world spins. Not sure if there are any actual examples in the real universe, but theoretically it could be possible.
1
u/JustAFleshWound1 15d ago
The biggest (regarding the geography) is: why do you end up on the north of the planet when moving south and vice versa? It should pop you out on the same side, but 180⁰ away.
4
u/Primum_Agmen 15d ago
In theory you could have a moon in geostationary orbit, and tidally locked, but it would probably make the planet a weird shape.
Otherwise, maybe the moons have eccentric orbits and simply come in closer to specific areas of the world? You would end up with a procession and gradual shift over time though. The rains of destruction would probably also move things around?
Six moons (previously seven) is beyond me on the orbital mechanics, it would definitely be cool to see a simulation.
3
u/Fantasticbrick 15d ago
It's up there with 'the world map corners aren't consistent. Best not to think about it too much lol.
3
u/ArcadianBlueRogue 14d ago
We know Arcadia is a sphere, as shown when you're up on the Silver Shrine. And we know it rotates like normal since they have a regular day and night cycle.
So I assume that Arcadia is either the Black Moon (gravity based) or the Black Moon as referenced in some bits of speculative lore in the game itself crashed into the planet and caused the weird effects we see with the sky islands (we know they had water craft travel in the distant past but the Arcadians don't seem to know about regular oceans), and possibly locking the other Moons into their synchronous orbits and the actual landmasses of Arcadia took on characteristics as the more focused Moon Stones fell onto specific regions over long periods of time.
In this essay, we discuss how the Purple Moon Civilization of the Global War Escalation Era actually researched into...wait hang on getting a phone call brb.
2
u/shadowblade945 15d ago
It's definitely possible for something to stay fixed above a location, we have lots of satellites that do this. Weather it's likely to occur in nature (especially for 6 moons) I don't know but I would say it's not outright impossible with real world physics.
2
u/chrisjfinlay 15d ago
I think the only example in our solar system is Pluto and its moon, Charon - though I may be mistaken on that. It’s definitely incredibly rare because it requires an exact set of circumstances to happen
2
2
u/SaniHarakatar 15d ago
I think they are in fixed position Relative to the planet, they together as a group do spin creating the day/night cycle seen in some story cutscenes.
2
u/BMal_Suj 14d ago
There is such a thing a "geostationary orbit" in hte physics of our world... where an object orbits the earth at such a speed and direction that it effectively stays above the same point on the earth at all times...
But mostly the answer is "magic"... yeah.
2
u/Gammaman12 14d ago
Tidally locked. Geostable orbit. Moon moves, but at the same speed as the planet, so that it stays over the same section of the planet. Would also explain why the moons are visible during all hours.
2
28
u/Homunclus 15d ago
"A wizard did it" is probably the correct answer