Earth with a Hypothetical Ring System, Video - What it would look like from different locations Options

[paxdan]

Really rather interesting video of what a ring system would look like from various locations on the earth.

[Floyd]

Wow! Visually it would be great. Probably not so great for launching satellites or riding on the ISS.

[volcanopele]

Not to mention the tremendous effect a ring would have on Earth's climate. Imagine near solstice with much of the area as far south as Madrid I would think being in darkness or near darkness while in the shadow of the ring.

[nprev]

We're getting there...Another several hundred years of launches & you'll be able to leapfrog your way to geosynchronous orbit off of the space junk!

[ElkGroveDan]

Not to mention the tremendous effect a ring would have on Earth's climate.

I was thinking that too. Having long duration darker skies over the same stretch of ocean - even if the rings were mostly transparent, would do nasty things to ocean currents. Then when you start looking at things like continental prevailing winds the notion of any kind of stability of weather would be difficult to imagine. Perhaps patterns would emerge and a seasonal equilibrium might be reached over the eons, but Earth would be a far different place and the view of the sky would be minor in comparison to the other changes.

[AndyG]

That's lovely.

I wrote this Flash tool a while ago to recreate ring views from the surface of a planet, depending on tilt, time of day, latitude, etc.

Andy

[Vultur]

I was thinking that too. Having long duration darker skies over the same stretch of ocean - even if the rings were mostly transparent, would do nasty things to ocean currents. Then when you start looking at things like continental prevailing winds the notion of any kind of stability of weather would be difficult to imagine. Perhaps patterns would emerge and a seasonal equilibrium might be reached over the eons, but Earth would be a far different place and the view of the sky would be minor in comparison to the other changes.

I wonder if a satellite ring could be used for long term (thousands of years +) climate alterations? Possibly triggering an ice age if we decided we wanted one for some reason...

[centsworth_II]

I wrote this Flash tool...

At first I was confused by your tool showing opposite curvatures when viewed from the southern and northern hemispheres. Then I realized that to see an accurate southern hemisphere view, I would have to turn the monitor upside down.

[Ant103]

ENTIRE POST DELETED.

Do not put such large images in-line. Link to them, attach thumbnails.

Think about other people browsing please.

ADMIN

The next time, please delete ONLY the pictures which you think you pose a problem. It's hard for me to write such a post in english, search the good pics, etc. I HATE retype an ENTIRE post !

[AndyG]

Very nice, Ant.

Have you moved the Moon to a zero-degree inclination? (Or perhaps I should ask, would a ring system be stable if the Moon was still inclined to the Earth's axis?)

Andy

[ynyralmaen]

The climatic effects of a terrestrial ring system were considered in a study a few years ago; peer-reviewed journal article available here (subscription to JGR needed).

[Ant103]

For thos who miss my "ultra-heavy-long-loading-post", just a simple link to my blog http://www.db-prods.net/blog/category/astronomie/anneaux/

[ilbasso]

The question for a ring system for Earth is, "How long would it have taken someone to figure out how to put advertising on it?"

[ngunn]

Mmm. What would be the correct term for ring advertising? Spokeware?

[Floyd]

For thos who miss my "ultra-heavy-long-loading-post", just a simple link to my blog http://www.db-prods.net/blog/category/astronomie/anneaux/

Sorry to have missed your post before it was removed--AndyG liked it. Unfortunately I speak no language other than English--Can you give me a hint as to what to click on in your blog?

Admin: seems a bit heavy handed to delete whole post of an old member who has contributed a fantastic number of great posts and images. Should be possible to Administer without being punitive?