A theoretic world question.

[Jade Margery]

If you go for rings and no moon, you would still have tides. They just wouldn't be as large. The sun pulls the tides just as the moon does, but to a lesser extent due to the distance. The biggest tides here on earth happen when the sun and moon are both pulling the same direction.

Tides and such

But I kind of think that having several highly reflective moons would be the way to go. The planet could always have at least one full moon, which makes a huge difference at night. And there could even be some story/plot elements related to the extremely rare times when none of the moons are visible--a night when evil is supposed to rule or something like that.

 

[Naraoia]

But I kind of think that having several highly reflective moons would be the way to go. The planet could always have at least one full moon, which makes a huge difference at night. And there could even be some story/plot elements related to the extremely rare times when none of the moons are visible--a night when evil is supposed to rule or something like that.

Asimov did that with multiple suns in Nightfall. There's nothing new under the sun(s).

 

[keith99]

Asimov did that with multiple suns in Nightfall. There's nothing new under the sun(s).

As I alluded to in post number 12 of this thread!

Not a slam at you or even close, I think your post is well timed for naming the story.

 

[keith99]

But then, if people have evolved in a world that has a perpetual day, they either have evolved not to sleep, or find sleeping during day easy.

If you want to use it as a story, it might actually give an interesting cultural aspect. Not having day and night would mean that people would have adapted for sleeping in a different way, or that cultural differences around sleeping could take interesting forms.

I think most of those were explored decades ago when we hoped to colonize the moon. A month long cycle is pretty much the same as constant daylight as far as sleep cycles go. And the moon throws in an interesting twist as work cycles for any jobs on the surface would depend on the monthly day/night cycle. So 2 weeks of work like a madman followed by 2 weeks of slack time.

 

[keith99]

Another thought, how do plants grow in complete sunlight? Do some plants do better with periods of darkness? As I recall, corn engages in respiration at night. My memory is pretty hazy, but I believe I remember it as being of some importance to the growing of corn. If corn were to grow poorly, we might have to replace it with another food source. Corn is pretty huge. Maybe wheat or rice could step up to the plate.

Honestly I don't know. But I do know many plants do just fine with no night. Or perhaps I should say with days 4 months long. Plenty of vegitation far enough up the pipeline road that it is light all summer.

Cabbages and some other plants do just fine far enough North that the summer days are over 20 hours long and it never really is dark.

Corn was not one of those when I was up in Alaska for a few weeks one summer. BUT that was long enough ago that the growing season would no thave been long enough for the corn varieties available. That has now chanced, there are many that do not need nearly as long a season.

 

[dbcsf]

This isn't at all what you're asking for, but here's two things you and others might find interesting.

Also, I don't know how many of you get out late a night, and are in urban environments with lots of light pollution, but when the clouds are the right thickness and altitude (like 3,000 ft. or less) the majority of the bounces back and creates an ambient situation that is bright enough that you can see clear details at a distance of things you can't even see during a full moon with a clear sky.

That is so true, now that you mention it. I used to go backpacking in Harriman State Park outside of NYC at night. I did not use a flashlight on cloudy nights as the city lights were sufficient for hiking.

 

[Jade Margery]

Asimov did that with multiple suns in Nightfall. There's nothing new under the sun(s).

Yeaaaaah....

I'm a pretty big Aasimov fan, loved the Foundation trilogy and all of his short stories, but for some reason I couldn't really get into Nightfall. I think it was partly written by another author? And that kind of distorted Aasimov's voice.

(Looked it up on Wikipedia. I've never read his short-story version of it, I only had the novelized version written with Robert Silverberg. I'll have to look up the original.)

 

[Naraoia]

Yeaaaaah....

I'm a pretty big Aasimov fan, loved the Foundation trilogy and all of his short stories, but for some reason I couldn't really get into Nightfall. I think it was partly written by another author? And that kind of distorted Aasimov's voice.

(Looked it up on Wikipedia. I've never read his short-story version of it, I only had the novelized version written with Robert Silverberg. I'll have to look up the original.)

I haven't read the short story either. I know I had some sort of beef with the novel, but I don't remember what it was now.

I do remember that when I read the Foundation trilogy, I thought Asimov was a very clever writer but not a particularly good one, if that makes sense. Maybe it was the translation, but I also had to slog through Bicentennial Man before I actually started appreciating it, and I read that in English.