# What if there were no moon?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-there-were-no-moon/65050>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 11, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-there-were-no-moon/65050 "2001-05-11T02:40:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pneumatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Pneumatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pneumatic)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-there-were-no-moon/65050/1 "2001-05-11T02:40:52Z")

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I have always wondered what would happen if the moon were somehow destroyed. Say some strange chain of events came along and knocked the moon out of orbit. A comet, a black hole, aliens, whatever. This strange event miraculously leaves the earth unscathed. What hapens? Besides not having any tides and being really dark at night, would it have any other negative effects?

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-there-were-no-moon/65050/2 "2001-05-11T02:45:59Z")

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You’re in luck. **Cecil Adams** has already answered this question. [I plan to destroy the moon. What effect would this have on the earth?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/001027.html)

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**Author:** ![Pneumatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Pneumatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pneumatic)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-there-were-no-moon/65050/3 "2001-05-11T02:54:46Z")

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Aaah, thanks! I’m new around here and should have known to hit the ol’ search button before I started typing. Thanks for the heads up!

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**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-there-were-no-moon/65050/4 "2001-05-11T02:55:12Z")

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“Goodnight Moon” would probably fall out of favor as a children’s book.

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-there-were-no-moon/65050/5 "2001-05-12T01:10:34Z")

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The entire staff of Moonbase Alpha would fall out of their chairs regularly, while meeting sundry alien cultures in less time than it takes usually to get to Jupiter…