[GeronL]

We could not have such a ring with our moon I think. The moon’s gravity would pull it apart.

Of course, the moon could have broken up into a ring. That would be interesting.

[GeronL]

bump

[fish hawk]

The earth, at one time, did have a ring and gravity pulled it into what we call the moon now.

[bert]

The moon is the ring

[ASOC]

With out the mass of the moon in orbit, the earth would not be nearly as stable as it is today.

I have heard that without the moon, life would not have developd on earth.

Crazy stuff, eh?

[sig226]

It was already suggested that there might not be life on earth without the moon. This theory has possibilities, but it can never be tested, so it's a moot point. I'm more interested in the development of higher learning. We are fortunate that the size and position of the moon allow it to eclipse the sun. This led to the understanding that objects in the heavens move independently from the earth and from each other. The planets change their positions in the night sky, but they are mere points of light. They are as incomprehensible as comets to people who don't understand their secrets.

The moon is easily observed and its path could be predicted by fairly simple mathematics. Ptolemy did it, possibly using lost knowledge from Egypt and Babylon. The ancient Chinese tried to predict eclipses with a smattering of success. They spent thousands of years wondering why did it do that. The ancients could also see that the Earth was quite round when it eclipsed the moon, but that takes all the fun out of jokes about medieval Europe. In terms of human history, we only "got it" fairly recently. Without the moon, Sir Isaac Newton might have regarded fallen apples only as wasted fruit. Our lives might be very different today.