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Kascii

Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 5:49 pm
by So Haleza Grise
Do the Almean moons ever eclipse each other? I assume solar eclipses are not as dramatic as on Earth because Enomai wouldn't be entirely obscured by any of the moons.

Re: Kascii

Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 6:24 pm
by zompist
Iliažë and Iliacáš do. Naunai's orbit is not entirely on the ecliptic, though.

(This is consistent with physics— well, based on some cursory Googling. All large bodies in the solar system are largely in a plane because they formed from a single disk, whose rotation flattened it. Also, the rotation of planets causes gravitational effects which tend to nudge their moons into equatorial orbits. However, these effects are less for small, distant objects. So the Galilean moons are all on Jupiter's equators, but its smaller moons aren't.)

BTW, the largest moon, Iliažë, has about 60% of our moon's apparent diameter, as seen from Almea. Ënomai is the same angular diameter as the sun, so you're quite right that it is never hidden. Under the right circumstances, though, it's a pretty stunning sight, one we never see: a ring of fire. (Warning: do not look directly at Ënomai even during a conjunction.)

Re: Kascii

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:07 am
by Axiem
Even on Earth, we have annular eclipses, where the angular diameter of the moon relative to the sun is too small to actually cover the sun completely, so we get the "ring of fire". It just sounds like on Almea, that's a bit more dramatic.