Alright, I think it’s time for a change-up.
Let’s do a little spring cleaning,
and redecorate our Solar System.
Now, I know you’re a big fan of the Moon,
but it’s so last season.
Let’s get something fresh,
something snazzier.
How about Europa?
"That ..."
"I love."
"I absolutely love!"
I know, I know,
the Moon is a classic,
but Europa could be a heck of an upgrade.
Oh, and before you ask,
the trade was mutual.
The Moon is just fine.
So, we’ll just moon-swap with Jupiter.
What’s the worst that can happen?
Europa is one of Jupiter’s 79 moons.
So, I don’t think they’ll mind
if we borrow it.
Covered by a thick layer of ice,
with water beneath its surface,
Europa is the sixth-largest moon
in our Solar System.
Because of its icy surface,
Europa reflects a lot of sunlight,
making it very,
very bright.
About 5.5 times brighter than our Moon
to be exact.
And to sweeten the deal,
Europa has three essentials
for supporting life,
Europa’s water dissolves nutrients
so they can be eaten by organisms.
This means that our new moon
can be used to transport chemicals
within living cells.
Plus, if we moved Europa
to our current Moon’s spot,
it would be millions of kilometers
closer to the Sun.
Sunlight might just be
the one missing ingredient
that's been impeding any life there
from developing further.
So if we relocate Europa,
we may eventually have some new neighbors.
So, are you sold yet?
Oh, you’re not?
Well, I’ve already filled out
the real estate paperwork.
So we’re just going to go ahead
and do the swap.
So, imagine looking up at the night sky
and seeing,
well, everything!
Europa would light up the night sky,
and be a breathtaking sight.
To make things even better,
there would be no negative consequences at all.
Okay, you caught me.
Look, I’m not really good
with this whole real estate thing.
So I’m going to come clean with you.
The first inconvenience you’re going to have is
trouble sleeping.
Imagine a floodlight coming through
your bedroom window.
Maybe you could just get some new blinds?
And it won’t be just you
who’s having a hard time adjusting.
It’s going to affect wildlife as well.
For example,
a lot of rodents hide
when the moonlight is strong,
to avoid becoming dinner for predators.
But with a strong, continuous moonlight,
they’ll eventually be forced
to go outside and into danger.
This means the rodent population
will decrease rapidly.
And that would affect
the entire animal food chain.
Next, Europa will shake things up.
But not in a good way.
The mass of our Moon
is 1.5 times greater than that of Europa.
This means that Europa
would have a much weaker
gravitational effect on the Earth.
The tides of our oceans
will become much smaller.
They may stop removing pollutants
and circulating nutrients.
You know,
stuff that the ocean plants
and animals need to survive.
If the tides are out of whack,
it could have a devastating effect
on ecosystems
and lead to mass extinctions.
OK, well,
it can’t get any worse, can it?
Look, don’t be mad,
but we may have messed up
our entire planet.
But look at how pretty the Moon is!
See! Just take it in …
You’re not buying it are you?
Our Moon is responsible
for stabilizing the Earth’s axis.
Without the Moon's pull,
this new gravitational shift
will start affecting our planet’s seasons
and climate.
We could be looking at a future where
parts of Earth hardly ever see the Sun,
while others
never get a break from the Sun.
This would affect everything.
And I mean everything.
If our axis became tilted too much,
we could be looking at another ice age.
Thankfully, this process would be slow,
so there would be time to prepare.
The problem is,
we’re not sure we have what it takes.
I mean, look at global warming.
Just a few degrees difference
can cause entire ecosystems
to become disturbed or wiped out.
And we’ve barely scratched the surface
of solving that problem.
So, maybe we should give our real Moon a call,
and see if it'll take us back?
We were just so excited about
something new, and sexy,
that we took our Moon for granted.
I miss you, Moon.
The good news is,
there are no real-world plans to move our Moon.
Swapping our Moon with Europa
could lead to some beautiful scenery,
but at the cost of catastrophic consequences
for Earth.
So in the meantime,
we’re going to work things out with our Moon,
and ...
Uh, what?
Where did it go?
This is bad.
This is really, really bad.
Imagine that,
out of nowhere,
our Moon exploded.
Well, that’s a story for another WHAT IF.