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Tidal Locked Moons
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| NyxKordel | Date: Tuesday, 14.08.2012, 14:58 | Message # 1 |
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Observer
Group: Newbies
United States
Messages: 5
Status: Offline
| I am new to the forums here, but a long time user of Space Engine. I LOVE this program. I can feel like an astronauht without leaving my house.  I am waiting to see what comes with each update. I am really looking forward to some kind of space flight/game content. I do have a question though. Is it just me, or are all moons Tidal Locked to there planet? I thought some moons, especially ones far from the planet they orbit are not tidal locked. Am I missing something? Is this on purpose?
-Nyx
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 14.08.2012, 17:07 | Message # 2 |
 Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
Messages: 8717
Status: Offline
| Hi NyxKordel, welcome to the forum.
Tidal locking is calculated automatically by the engine. If a moon has a sufficiently distant orbit, or other properties that make it resistant to tidal locking, then it may have an independent rotation. But in most cases, as is true with every known major moon reality, the moons will be tidally locked.
All forum users, please read this!
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| NyxKordel | Date: Wednesday, 15.08.2012, 14:56 | Message # 3 |
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Observer
Group: Newbies
United States
Messages: 5
Status: Offline
| Okay. The engine calculates this, and there can be non-tidal locked moons? I just have not run across one yet is all. And I use Space Engine A LOT. I'll keep searching! Just gives me even more reason to use Space Engine. 
Also, Is there a way to rename planets/moons etc.? I find amazing places, and want to rename them so there aren't just a huge string of numbers and dashes.
-Nyx
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Wednesday, 15.08.2012, 15:17 | Message # 4 |
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Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
Messages: 8717
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| Quote (NyxKordel) The engine calculates this, and there can be non-tidal locked moons? I just have not run across one yet is all.
I'm pretty sure that I have seen one. I know that it's possible.
Quote (NyxKordel) Also, Is there a way to rename planets/moons etc.? I find amazing places, and want to rename them so there aren't just a huge string of numbers and dashes.
No. There is no way to rename procedural worlds. This is something that may be included as a feature in the eventual game based off SpaceEngine, where players can "name" procedural worlds, but that is in the far future.
All forum users, please read this!
My SE mods and addons
Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
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| planethunter13 | Date: Wednesday, 15.08.2012, 20:30 | Message # 5 |
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Astronaut
Group: Users
United States
Messages: 48
Status: Offline
| most moons are tidal lock
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| pebble | Date: Sunday, 05.05.2013, 14:33 | Message # 6 |
 Astronaut
Group: Users
United States
Messages: 76
Status: Offline
| Quote (NyxKordel) Is it just me, or are all moons Tidal Locked to there planet? I thought some moons, especially ones far from the planet they orbit are not tidal locked. Am I missing something? Is this on purpose?
Thank goodness for the search tool. I'd noticed this as well and wondered if it was a bug, or at least an over-preponderance of tidally locked moons. But today I actually found some distant moons that were not tidally locked.
It makes sense that most near, small moons would be subject to tidal locking. So I guess it's really a feature, not a bug.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Sunday, 05.05.2013, 14:42 | Message # 7 |
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Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
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| Quote (pebble) It makes sense that most near, small moons would be subject to tidal locking. So I guess it's really a feature, not a bug.
Yes. All moons in the Solar system are tidally locked to their parent planets, with the exception of irregular captured satellites that orbit very far from their host planets. Even Iapetus which takes nearly three months to orbit Saturn is tidally locked.
All forum users, please read this!
My SE mods and addons
Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
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| Voekoevaka | Date: Sunday, 05.05.2013, 15:45 | Message # 8 |
 World Builder
Group: SE team
France
Messages: 1016
Status: Offline
| I saw that non tidal-locked moons exist on the Space Anomalies (part 5), but this thread is old, and I don't know if it is up-to-date with 0.97.
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| Billy_Mayes | Date: Friday, 10.05.2013, 23:44 | Message # 9 |
 Pioneer
Group: Users
Finland
Messages: 485
Status: Offline
| Quote (Voekoevaka) I saw that non tidal-locked moons exist on the Space Anomalies (part 5), but this thread is old, and I don't know if it is up-to-date with 0.97.
I can confirm this, I have seen multiple moons that are not tidally locket with their parent in 0.97
AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 GHz Quad-Core - AMD Radeon HD 6950 2GB VRAM - 4GB RAM - 1680x1050 75 Hz Samsung screen
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| Watsisname | Date: Saturday, 11.05.2013, 00:12 | Message # 10 |
 Galaxy Architect
Group: Global Moderators
United States
Messages: 2613
Status: Offline
| Pretty much what has been said already; most moons are tidally-locked, but moons that orbit far from their planets may not be.
The time it takes for a body to become locked has an extreme dependence on orbital distance; if I recall correctly it goes by the sixth power (but it is not a simple formula). This is why moons tend to be tidally locked much more often than planets.
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| SpaceEngineer | Date: Saturday, 11.05.2013, 12:21 | Message # 11 |
 Author of Space Engine
Group: Administrators
Russian Federation
Messages: 4800
Status: Offline
| Formula is
T = 2.654*10-9 * a6 / P0 / M2
where
T in years,
a in thousands of kilometers,
P0 in days (initial rotation period)
M in Earth's masses (mass of a parent planet or sun)
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