[Enigmatic Entity]

If that moon keeps taking up particles from the ring, it's going to slow down and crash into Saturn - maybe in a million years, but still...

[FUBAR-BDHR]

* FUBAR-BDHR sets his alarm clock

[watsisname]

On a related note, I think I recall reading somewhere that Mars' moon Phobos is supposed to decay and smash into the planet in the "somewhat" near future.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Either both are on 1 is and the other will escape.  They are both captured asteroids. 

Out moon will escape too but only if it gets out before the dies.   

[watsisname]

Wait, what?  lol

[Liberator]

I think what he means is the Moon, aka Luna, will eventually sling off from Earth orbit and become a free satellite of the Sun.  This event is supposed to happen in about 350,000 years IIRC.

[NGTM-1R]

I dunno, I'm not gonna jump all over Liberator here. He might have a few points. I'm wondering about the 'putting out far more energy than it receives' thing. I know that Jupiter has a killer electromagnetic field, but past that, would it really put out energy?

That's a genuine question, so I've got to do some research.

IIRC Jupiter glows in infrared much too bright to be merely re-radiating.

[StarSlayer]

I dunno, I'm not gonna jump all over Liberator here. He might have a few points. I'm wondering about the 'putting out far more energy than it receives' thing. I know that Jupiter has a killer electromagnetic field, but past that, would it really put out energy?

That's a genuine question, so I've got to do some research.

IIRC Jupiter glows in infrared much too bright to be merely re-radiating.

"ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO
LANDING THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM IN PEACE"

[watsisname]

I think what he means is the Moon, aka Luna, will eventually sling off from Earth orbit and become a free satellite of the Sun.  This event is supposed to happen in about 350,000 years IIRC.

Aye, I assumed something along those lines, but the way he wrote it was kind of ambiguous and funny. =P
I think I read a figure that the moon's average distance increases about a centimeter per year, but I could be way off on that.  The mechanic for this is tidal drag, and it's a bit weird how it works.  The moon's gravity causes tides on Earth, and the tides cause friction on Earth's rotation which gradually slows it down.  At the same time, the tidal bulge pulls back on the moon, and since one bulge is always slightly ahead of the moon, the moon accelerates, which pushes its orbit higher.

Edit:  Actually, this website explains it pretty well.  And apparently the moon will not escape from Earth, but stabilize in a larger orbit sometime in the far future. http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/astronomy/q0262.shtml