Would Earth Be Considered a Moon or a Planet if it Orbited Jupiter?

[@unarealtaragionevole]

The problem with habitable moons/planets around a gas giants...is that in order to hype the 'possibilities' of we often avoid talking about the likelihood of some serious negatives. Granted every situation is going to be different, but I just can't imagine a moon/planet not being tidally locked due to the gravity of the planet. I mean just look at how our smaller moon, with its smaller mass and gravity, is affecting (slowing) us, just imagine how the gravity of a gas giant would affect us. Not only would we be tidally locked, but then we have to deal with the instabilities the gravity might be causing on our mantel/core. Then we might have to deal with the massive radiation emissions of the planet, we might have a magnetosphere we might not, but it doesn't change the fact that we would be constantly showered in radiation levels stronger than we are currently getting from the sun every second, and it might be too much to handle. Oh then we have the fact that the gas giant is a massive vacuum cleaner for asteroids and comets....and once they get pulled close enough to the giant, our gravity could take over and we might take the hits. Imagine a life ending asteroid hitting us every few hundred thousand years instead few hundred million years.......this list goes on and on.

[@AstroPhil2000]

This is a really good point and we can see this with moons in our Solar System. Many of Jupiter and Saturn's large moons orbit within the magnetosphere and radiation belts. Even our own moon orbits in and out of Earth's magnetotail, creating a potentially harsh surface environment.

[@unarealtaragionevole]

@@AstroPhil2000 Hmm, it is funny, I find the moons around gas giants to be a wonderful modern example of the chicken/egg debate between art and science. Did art inspire the search for habitable moons with things like Star Wars' Endor and Avatar's Pandora? Or did an early understanding of celestial formations inspire Star Wars' Endor and Avatar's Pandora? The balance between what is physically possible and what is biologically possible...also makes me wonder if an astrophysicist and an astrobiologist could every be a happy couple...I feel the nature of their careers would create less of a Relationship, and more of a Roche Limit...and I don't think that's the type of ring they want in their future. (first astrophysics joke I ever told) 🤣😉

[@longlivetheblackmamba2-8-24]

While true, I think many of this would be solved if sed moon of a gas giant was large enough and orbited the planet far enough. Jupiter and Saturn both have moons larger than mercury and storms and planet features even larger . It’s easily possible for a Planet those sizes to produce a moon the size of Mars or even Earth imo. Ganymede orbits over a million kilometers from Jupiter and Callisto around 2. Titan also orbits Saturn at a million kilometers. At those distances radiation is significantly decreased. Also I assume a smaller mass gas planet would me less radiation as well such as the difference between Jupiter and Saturn.

[@princegee3067]

Pandora from avatar