What it would look like if Earth had rings like Saturn.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Okay, this is freaking *cool*.
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Linkity?
-- Sucrose Octanitrate. Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
no link, it would look like whitespace.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger." From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
Until the link gets posted, I have a question: Is it even possible for Earth to have a naturally-occurring ring?
I mean, with the Van-Allan Belt, and the magnetic field (and various other things), would it actually be possible? _____ DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...
That would make for a cool Fenspace project.
-- Sucrose Octanitrate. Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode. Quote: ECSNorway wrote: Consolidation of all orbital garbage into a single ring. Sounds like it would at least be useful. You know, until whatever device was doing it decided that things like Ptchitka and the World Watch One were garbage. "Professor, me and the Blue Blazers and the Soviet Navy would like to talk to you about your latest invention...." Ebony the Black Dragon http://ebony14.livejournal.com "Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you." 
Reminds me of the Orbital Ring in the anime Tekkaman Blade. Looks cool, but all it takes is one stray missile...
--- Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do. 
Ah geeze, what happened? I put the link in when I made the post... Let me go get it again.
take two. -- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. 
Bonus props for the Ave Maria. ^_^
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.'' -- James Nicoll 
I rather like the idea of linking everything in Clarke orbit, and then running space elevators down from that ring -- because if your linkage between
satellites is strong enough, it'll help support the weight of the elevator cable, meaning you don't need a counterbalance extending nearly so far beyond geosynch. Call the artificial ring "Gaia's Crown" (Jormungandr would be underwater, not in space, after all). For Kurisu's question, I don't believe the van Allen Belt would have any effect, and Jupiter has a ring system despite having a lethal magnetic field. I wonder about the Moon's gravitational effect distorting ring formation, though. And boy oh boy, I'll bet natural rings would've had a weird effect on early astronomy -- I won't guess what exactly it'd have been like, but I'm sure it would've been different. ----- Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
I think that one of the reasons that Earth doesn't have a ring system is because we have a moon - one that is relatively large when you compare that of Earth's to all others in proportion. Even in LEO corrections need to be made on a regular basis to account for the Luna's gravitational pull, which is enough to shift our own oceans - quite significantly in some places!
As for how it would have affected astronomy... I think that with such a large reflective surface so close to the Earth, it may have advanced a bit more quickly. 
Chiming in to agree with BA.
The moon (or any satellite large enough to cause significant tides) would decimate the rings. Some scientists argue that without a moon, life wouldn't have gotten started nearly as soon as it did (if at all). Also of note: The gaps in the rings are caused by shepherd moons, that clear out pathways between the bands. The rings would have appeared more blue/green due to reflected light from the earth. But the pictures where pretty  -Terry ----- "so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today" TF2: Spy
Astronomy might have advanced faster, but so would have religion. It would have been incorporated into early religious teachings, that it was a visible sign of
a Divine hand at work. So it's questionable how far science would have advanced if the religious community had what they felt was such an indisputable sign of their being right. --- Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
I imagine that at least a few people would have attempted something vaguely analogous to the Ringworld's "find the base of the arch" quest...
Given the views from Sweden that they show, I just have the words 'Rainbow Bridge' running through my head.... maybe certain myths were more inspired
than originally thought. And the science-vs-religion thing is a questionable issue, really. The disagreement between them is a more modern issue than most people expect... -- Sucrose Octanitrate. Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
RE: Religeon vs. Science, think on this. Early Egyptians figured out that the Earth was round because at the Nile's headwaters you could see straight down
into wells in the noon-day sunlight, but at the delta you couldn't. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out a few things about the rings, especially if they remained fixed in relation to the equator during the axial shifts. That would make the shadow cast by the Earth shift most dramatically throughout the year. In fact, even a caveman would figure this out, as he knew how light and shadow work together (campfires and such - shadow puppets are the oldest trick in the book). If that wouldn't have a big impact on science vs. religeon, then I don't know what does. Another useful thing would be that you can tell EXACTLY how far north or south of the equator you are and even which way you are going with much greater ease. This would have had an incredibly dramatic impact on sea-going navigation, as the rings would be visible at all times. The world would have been much more conflicted as there would have been a lot more travel by sea, and the Vikings may not be the first ones to 'colonize' N. America.
When I watched this, I was instantly curious what kind of changes it would have made to religion and mythology. It'd be fascinating, and you *know* that
"Stairway to Heaven" wouldn't have been a psychadelic rock song  -WFalling out of aeroplanes and hiding out in holes Waiting for the sunset to come, people going home Jump out from behind them and shoot them in the head Now everybody dancing the dance of the dead |
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