What If the Moon Just… Vanished?

9 PM. Your phone buzzes. It's your 7-year-old daughter, crying: "Daddy... the moon is gone." What would really happen if the Moon disappeared tonight? Earth wouldn't fly off into space, but every night would turn pitch black forever, the tides would shrink to a third, coral reefs would wait for a signal that never comes, and over millions of years Earth's tilt could start to wander. This is the story of a dad, his daughter Ava, and the promise they made: wherever they are, every night at 9, look at the same moon. CHAPTERS 0:00 The call 0:49 Second 1: what you'd feel 1:06 Night 1: the darkest nights 1:33 Day 1: the tides break 2:11 Week 1: scared of the dark 2:46 Month 1: calendars, festivals and footprints 3:32 Year 1: it's not all bad 3:46 The slow danger: Earth's tilt 4:17 Year 30 5:09 The news alert 5:19 Your turn THE SCIENCE • The Moon has only about 1.2% of Earth's mass, so Earth's orbit around the Sun wouldn't change. • The Moon drives most of the ocean's tides. With only the Sun pulling, tides would be about a third of their size. • Lion attacks on people in Tanzania peak in the dark evenings after a full moon (Packer et al., 2011). • Many corals on the Great Barrier Reef time their mass spawning to moonlight in the nights after a full moon. • Eid, Karva Chauth and the Mid-Autumn Festival are all set by the Moon. • In 1972, Apollo 17's Gene Cernan wrote his daughter Tracy's initials, "TDC", in the lunar dust. • The Moon steadies Earth's axial tilt. Without it, the tilt could swing by tens of degrees over millions of years (Laskar et al., 1993). What would you miss most about the moon, and who would you look at it for? Tell us in the comments. If you've ever looked at the moon to feel close to someone, hit like and subscribe for Part 2. #WhatIf #Moon #Space