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Old 10-18-2017, 03:36 AM   #3
malloyd
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: [Space] Triple Full Moons

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jinumon View Post

I understand that the Suns (or their combined center of mass) and all three moons must be approximately aligned to all show full, but for the life of me can't figure out how to calculate it. Ya'll are awesome. 'Preciate ya!
Jinumon
Actually it's worse than that. The suns don't need to be aligned, and in fact the less aligned they are the longer the "full" moons last - if they are at maximum separation there is a 14 degree slice of sky the moons can be in in which they will be fully lit viewed from the planet.

With only one sun I suppose you need to calculate the solar (rather than sidereal) periods of the moons, and find the integer solutions to
p1 x - p2 y = 0
p2 y - p3 z = 0
p3 z - p1 x = 0

These kinds of problems are called Diophantine equations, and are not simple to solve.
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