In Ryan North’s Fantastic Four #25 story “Star-Crossed,” artists Carlos Gómez and Jesus Aburtov give us beautiful images of life on an alternative Earth, which evolved with no moon. Their detailed depictions of towering plant life, terrifying creatures, and intelligent society are inspired. But are they inspired by reality?
The Moon has been a part of the development of life on Earth since the proto-Earth collided with Theia, another protoplanet thought to have been the size of Mars. The environment created due to our unique moon has helped make our existence possible. So what would life on Earth be like if there were no moon?
Marvel
The Moon is directly responsible for several things which make our planet suitable for complex life. The impact of the proto-Earth and Theia caused the tilt of the Earth’s axis, and the Moon itself helps to maintain the 23.44° angle. Without this, there wouldn’t be the seasonal changes we currently experience. The gravitational pull of the Moon influences the speed of Earth’s rotation, too, which is the direct cause of wind speeds, and the tides. The Moon has been slowing the planet down by a small amount everyday since its creation. The presence of the Moon and its gravity also kept many early asteroids from striking the proto-Earth, which could have had catastrophic effects on the development of life.
Scientists have long speculated that without a moon, conditions on Earth would have been very different throughout its history. The increased rotational speeds would mean days would only be 8-10 hours long, with wind speeds regularly sustained at nearly 200 mph on the surface. Instability in axial tilt would mean an unstable climate with major temperature changes over geologically short spans of time. The nights would be as dark as when we experience a new moon, with a significantly larger number of visible stars.
The kind of life that would evolve under these conditions would likely be unrecognizable to us. An increase in early asteroid and comet impacts could have destroyed many early attempts at life, and the smaller tides would have left less opportunity for evolutionary leaps. Any complex life that did evolve would likely have shorter life spans, due to the extremes in weather and climate. Plants and animals would be short in stature with stout silhouettes, which would help to combat effects of the wind speed. This means there would be no jungles (as we define them) and no forests. The wind might also lead to more creatures with membranes that would allow them to glide and/or fly.
The deafening sound of wind speeds between 150 and 200 mph would cause creatures to process sound differently, perhaps not even evolving ears and hearing as we know it. The noise would also change how creatures communicate. Vocalization would need to either be incredibly loud or pitch sensitive to account for the constant drone of wind, if it were to be useful at all. It’s more likely that non-vocal communication would be the norm for all creatures, particularly intelligent species. Darker nights would also likely mean hyperdeveloped vision, larger eyes, and changes to the parts of the brain that process light.
Marvel Comics
It’s true that life on an Earth without a moon would be very different and seemingly strange, compared to what we know today. North, Gomez, and Aburtov have given us an amazing alternative in Fantastic Four #25, one that allowed for a beautiful inter-species romance between intelligent beings similar enough to fall in love. Whether it could ever truly work out between a flaming human being and and an invertebrate clearly inspired by the bizarre hallucigenia of the Cambrian period is a question for another time.
AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.
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