From: "Andy Robertson" 
Subject: Re: (urth) Leagues and gravity
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 20:08:14 -0000

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Friedman" 
>
> So did I make a mistake?  Are we supposed to infer something from this
> discrepancy?


It is clearly signalled that Green causes massive tides on Blue.

You are right in saying that such an orbital system would be unstable.

Blue would have even more massive effects on Green, of course, sending it
all over the place.


Is there a solution?


I favour the idea that Wolfe started off with Blue/Green just being two
planets in an alien system.

When his hero got to Blue, he started to play with the idea that Blue/Green
just *might* be Ushas/Lune.

It is only at this point that we learn that Green comes even closer to Blue
than the moon does to the Earth today - something which may signal that
Green is a torn-away moon.


I think Blue/Green are in such unstable, temporary, orbits because they are
a young configuration - one which was formed when Lune was torn away from
Ushas by the White Fountain.


    hartshorn



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