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Questions tagged [tidal-locking]

Questions regarding a phenomenon when an object has an orbital period that is equal to its rotational period due to gravitational tidal forces.

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On a theoretical young tidally locked planet and its relationship with temperature

I have a question regarding tidally locked planets, regarding the length it takes to reach a certain temperature. How would one calculate the estimated temperature after a certain amount of time being ...
5 votes
1 answer
198 views

Are there any bodies in the solar system whose rotation is almost tidally locked or barely tidally locked?

The Moon's rotation is firmly tidally locked to the Earth and the Earth's rotation is firmly tidally unlocked with respect to the Moon. I gather that Mercury's rotation is tidally locked in a 3:2 ...
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Could a tidally locked large moon prevent a close-orbiting planet from getting tidally locked to its star?

A planet can get tidally locked to its moon, like Pluto and Charon, or like Earth someday and Luna. A planet can get tidally locked to its sun - close orbiting exoplanets are assumed to be tidally ...
16 votes
3 answers
3k views

Under which conditions could a planet's massive moon's orbit get closer to the planet?

The recent question How do we know the Moon was much closer than it is now? has piqued my interest. The answers are numerous and clear. But I started to wonder. The question includes the following ...
6 votes
1 answer
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Can a tidally locked planet have their own habitable zone?

As we know, if a planet is near a star and is tidally locked, then at near side it is very hot and at far side it is very cold. But between 2 sides there should be a gradient of temperature change and ...
2 votes
3 answers
293 views

What does the rate the Moon moves away from Earth depend on?

Is it based on the distance between the Earth and Moon? Would that make the Moon move away faster or slower as time goes on?
1 vote
1 answer
73 views

Will the Earth tidally lock to the Moon (ignoring Sun's expansion)

At some point, won't the tidal forces from the Moon be less than the ones from the Sun? Would that mean that the Moon stops moving away, or would the process still continue. Would the Earth start ...
4 votes
4 answers
259 views

Can a solar system exist where the second planet rotates fast, and the third planet is tidally locked to their star?

Today I read about the Romulan home star system and it looks like it might be impossible for such a star system to exist. Memory Alpha describes Remus: Remus was tidally locked, with one ...
5 votes
1 answer
237 views

How will the Solar tides affect the Earth's rotation once it is tidally locked to the Moon?

It is my understanding that the tidal forces of the Moon acting on Earth cause it to slow down its rotation and, because angular momentum is conserved, the Moon's orbit subsequently expands. This ...
12 votes
1 answer
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Would the Earth and Moon still have tides after the Earth tidally locks to the Moon?

Ignore the Sun's expansion. From my understanding, tidal locking happens from torque as a result of tidal bulges being offset from the line between the two planets. So when the Earth and Moon tidally ...
4 votes
3 answers
603 views

Is this definition of tidal locking really satisfying?

We always are hearing this: "If a moon has equal rotational and orbital periods it's tidally locked to its host planet and always one side of it will face to the planet." But what if, for ...
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

"Tidally locked" Oort Cloud object

Is the Oort cloud spherical enough and are there enough objects in it that it is likely there is at least one in there that it has shown the same face to the sun for billions of years and will ...
5 votes
1 answer
282 views

Eyeball planets experiencing "catastrophic" flips

This Youtube video by Anton Petrov shows research1 claiming that tidally-locked planets orbiting the same star in tight orbits may interfere with one another and one planet may cause the other to &...
5 votes
2 answers
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Will Mercury ever become locked to the Sun?

The Mercury year is between 1 and 2 days. Has it ever been greater, and will it eventually become "tidally locked" with the Sun?
6 votes
5 answers
12k views

How is Mercury tidally locked if the ratio is not 1:1?

The ratio for a planet to be tidally locked has to be 1:1, but the ratio for Mercury is 3:2. How is Mercury tidally locked if the ratio is not 1:1?

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