[Dragaera] Dragaera and Moons **Minor Vallista Spoiler, nothing plot related**

[Jerry Friedman]

      From: Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net>  
>       From: Scott Schultz via Dragaera <dragaera at lists.dragaera.info>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dragaera [mailto:dragaera-bounces at lists.dragaera.info] On Behalf
>> Of
>> Jerry Friedman via Dragaera
>> Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2017 1:47 PM
>> To: dragaera at lists.dragaera.info
>> Subject: Re: [Dragaera] Dragaera and Moons **Minor Vallista Spoiler,
>> nothing plot related**
>> Sent from my iPhone please excuse typos
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> >
>> > From: "Konrad Gaertner via Dragaera" <dragaera at lists.dragaera.info>
>> > To: dragaera at lists. To.info
>> > Sent: Friday, November 3, 2017 5:04:29 AM
>> > Subject: Re: [Dragaera] Dragaera and Moons **Minor Vallista Spoiler,
>> > nothing plot related**
>> >
>> >> On 11/2/2017 10:19 PM, Jon via Dragaera wrote:
>> >> Spoiler Space
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>> > [snip]
...
<snip>
>>> Whatever the reason for
>>> its orbit, it's entirely artificial. It could be some geosynchronous orbit
>>> that makes sense when you're directly underneath it, but that Dolivar and
>>> the nascent Empire only see every so often when the planet's natural
>>> wobble brings it into visible range. It could be some highly elliptical
>>> orbit, like a comet. Note that the wording is that it will rise in
>>> "another nine days", not that it rises EVERY nine days. We don't really
>>> know the period of Littlemoon (even if Dolivar does know it).

>Allow me to clarify. The nearly-geosynchronous orbit theory does not in any way involve "wobble" (also called precession). 

I was commenting on one of Scott Schultz's theories, which is different from yours.
<snip>

>> I'm having trouble imagining a planet wobbling enough to bring a
>> geosynchronous satellite into and out of view on a scale of days.
>> A constellation wouldn't just appear in the morning.  The time of day it
>> appeared would depend on the time of year.

>Precession is a phenomenon that is caused by instability in the rotational axis of a spinning body that causes the orientation of its axis to draw out a circle or >figure-eight pattern. (This is the reason why Polaris will no longer be the "North Star" 7,000 years from now, and also why we can at times see different parts of >the face of the moon, even though it is constantly rotating in tidal lock with Earth. The "wobble" causes us to see somewhat over 58% of the moon's surface at >various times. )>
>This couldn't ever by itself cause a moon to appear to rise or set, unless one was standing at or near a pole of the planet the moon was orbiting, and the >precession were happening abnormally quickly.
I understood Scott to be suggesting that Littlemoon was in a synchronous orbit close to the eastern or western horizon from where Dolivar lived, so slight changes in Dragaera's rotation (or Littlemoon's orbit?) would bring it it slightly above and slightly below that horizon.  I still have trouble imagining it, though.
> Also, I'd like to stress that just because an object is orbiting very close to a natural geosynchronous point, that is far from sufficient to prove that it is artificial in > origin. Geosynchronous orbits are generally very stable, and easy for objects to fall into quite naturally. 
It's still a big coincidence.  And from what I've been reading today, our geostationary satellites have to use onboard thrusters to stay in their orbits--"station keeping".
Jerry Friedman