Data Log #15: Gaia's Moons: Aaron and Alice
Like many planets, Gaia is not alone. In fact, it has two moons! Originally referred to as "The Twin Moons" these celestial bodies have roughly the same mass (~33% of Earth's moon) and same diameter (~70% of the Earth's moon) as one another.
When the terraforming and colonization project for Gaia was announced the scientific community felt the Twin Moons should receive their own individual names. As such, they hosted a public vote amongst school aged children on what they should be. After removing some names like "Moony Mc. Moon Face" from the pool (though a satellite orbiting between the moons for research has been given that name due to the sheer popularity) our children voted to name the moons Aaron and Alice.
Aaron is the moon closest to Gaia. On average it orbits at a distance of 270,000 kilometers. Due to it being one third the mass of the moon but significantly closer to its planet, it exerts about 96% of the tidal forces the Moon does to Earth. While Aaron is an estimated 70% the diameter of Earth’s moon, they would both appear to be similar sizes (though Aaron slightly smaller) when looking at them from their respective planets.
Alice on the other hand typically orbits an average distance of 600,000 kilometers from Gaia. While Alice’s gravitational forces can be measured by scientific instruments, it's often imperceptible to individuals. Alice's tidal forces are around 8% the strength of the moons, or about 20% of that of the Sun's. Due to its increased distance from Gaia compared to Aaron, should you look up at Alice in the night sky, it would look to be a bit under half the size of Aaron, and subsequently under half the size of Earth's moon.
Should Gaia ever host an ocean again, Aaron would be the moon most responsible for the tides. Should Aaron have been a solo moon, Gaia may have had tides similar to Earth. However, Alice would affect the tides as well though not greatly. The tides would be a bit more complicated with differing but predictable schedules, mild averages, but greater extremes. Should Aaron and Alice line up (especially if they line up with the sun), tides could raise an average of a few centimeters potentially causing some flooding in low land areas.
Over all, it will be a very different experience from Earth, and other monolunar, but certainly adaptable and sustainable.

















