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To: alexander_busek
Yes, of course. And by the way, that doesn't rule out a planet (or moon) having something big in their skies, it just rules out having something big and close, because tidal forces decrease far more rapidly with distance than total gravitational force (an inverse cube law instead of an inverse square). So it's perfectly reasonable for Pandora in the Avatar movie to have a looming gas giant in the sky, but not a close-orbiting similar-massed object.
35 posted on 06/23/2013 3:59:12 AM PDT by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
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To: Telepathic Intruder
So it's perfectly reasonable for Pandora in the Avatar movie to have a looming gas giant in the sky, but not a close-orbiting similar-massed object.

Quite. Or even a close-orbiting object with a similar apparent size (but perhaps even far lower mass).

Regards,

36 posted on 06/23/2013 5:44:45 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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