Can the Earth survive without the Moon and does the gravitational pull between objects in space affect the orbit of one object around another?
The gravitational pull of the moon moderates Earth's wobble, keeping the climate stable. That's a boon for life. Without it, we could have enormous climate mood swings over billions of years, with different areas getting extraordinarily hot and then plunging into long ice ages. It is the pull of the Moon's gravity on the Earth that holds our planet in place. Without the Moon stabilizing our tilt, it is possible that the Earth's tilt could vary wildly. It would move from no tilt (which means no seasons) to a large tilt (which means extreme weather and even ice ages). The Moon is a stabilizing force, as worlds without big moons like Mars see their axial tilt change by ten times as much over time. On Earth, without a Moon, its estimated that our tilt would possibly even exceed 45° at times, making us a world that spun on our sides. A planet may not require a large moon to be habitable, but Earth's moon is vitally important in shaping life as we know it: It controls the length of the day and ocean tides, which affect the planet's biological cycles. Every object in space exerts a gravitational pull on every other, and so gravity influences the paths taken by everything traveling through space. It is the glue that holds together entire galaxies. It keeps planets in orbit. Orbiting objects, which are called satellites, include planets, moons, asteroids, and manmade devices. Objects orbit each other because of gravity. Gravity is the force that exists between any two objects with mass. Every object, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has mass. The closer two objects are, the stronger the gravitational pull between them. So, putting these rules together, the more massive and the closer two objects are, the greater the gravitational attraction between them. Gravity is a very important force. Every object in space exerts a gravitational pull on every other, and so gravity influences the paths taken by everything traveling through space. It is the glue that holds together entire galaxies. It keeps planets in orbit.
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