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Astronomy

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    $\begingroup$ The question would be more interesting with a rather small body (like a small, dense moon or even better, a small black hole) whose gravity field close by is stronger than the Earth's but farther away too weak to suck the Earth in. $\endgroup$
    – Peter - Reinstate Monica
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 9:37
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    $\begingroup$ @Chappo Not of the same mass but of a much smaller mass, and much closer, exploiting the inhomogeneity of its gravitational field. Imagine a black hole 10 km above us exerting 1g on us. (Its mass would be much smaller than Jupiter's.) The far side of the earth, being 12000 km away, would only experience (12000/10)^2 ~ 1.4E-6 g, i.e. almost no attraction. That black hole flying by at 9 km distance would suck us up, and some of the upper 1 km of earth's crust. $\endgroup$
    – Peter - Reinstate Monica
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 14:16
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    $\begingroup$ I think you could get a more "fun" answer if you wrote to what-if.xkcd.com. $\endgroup$
    – Barmar
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 18:32
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    $\begingroup$ @Barmar: Assuming that's even still active - the last post there was months ago at least. $\endgroup$
    – Vikki
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 1:27
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    $\begingroup$ This is the very definition of the Roche limit of the passing body. $\endgroup$
    – Loren Pechtel
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 2:02