268: Chapter 268: The Moon dances near Venus and Earth, orbiting the binary system!

History Staff Quarters.

The living room was filled with smoke.

Professor Chen Runzhi muttered continuously, "Two moons, two suns; if you string all these myths together... it actually becomes exceptionally logical!"

Qian Mingyi took over the conversation, "The key is that these records are not isolated cases. In China, India, Babylon, Greece, Maya, Native American—virtually all ancient civilizations across the globe, civilizations that have been passed down for thousands of years, all have legends of 'There were once two moons in the sky.'"

He paused for a moment, his gaze gradually deepening, "If only one ethnic group said this, it could be explained as imagination; but if the whole world says so..."

"Then there is only one possibility."

Professor Liu Guangyi immediately jumped in, "Those legends are true."

Professor Chen Runzhi took a deep breath and stubbed out his cigarette, "Old Liu, you're an ecologist. From your professional perspective, is there any evidence to support this?"

Professor Liu Guangyi pondered for 2.5 seconds and nodded, "Yes."

He stood up, walked to the window, and pointed at the pitch-black night sky outside.

"Do you know that there are marine strata all over the world?"

Qian Mingyi was puzzled, "Marine strata?"

"Yes, in geology, marine strata refer to rock layers formed by marine sedimentation."

"Logically, these things should only appear on the seabed or the bottom of former oceans."

He turned to look at the three of them.

"But strangely, large amounts of marine strata have been discovered in the inland areas of almost every continent in the world; and the age of these marine strata happens to be around 12,000 years."

Wang Weiguo said incredulously: "You mean..."

"As you guessed, this indicates that 12,000 years ago, the global sea level rose sharply in a short period, submerging large areas of the inland. After the seawater receded, it left behind these marine strata."

Finally, he looked at the big screen, "If the Moon was really captured by the Earth at that time, the sudden change in tidal forces could very well have triggered a global flood of this scale."

"After all, geologically speaking, even a pole reversal wouldn't do it; only the moment of the Earth's rotation stopping could cause a global-scale great flood!"

"When it comes down to it, it's actually about the 'Global Great Flood' being unusual!"

"Either a wandering black hole came to Earth and caused the global great flood—but if a wandering black hole had come, it would have left some traces on other celestial bodies in the Solar System; in fact, there were none; so only the hypothesis proposed by Jiang Zhe, that Venus threw out the Moon, can perfectly connect the Great Flood with the twin moon or twin sun legends of various countries!"

After he finished speaking, Professor Chen Runzhi, Qian Mingyi, and Wang Weiguo looked at each other, their eyes full of shock.

National Astronomical Observatory.

Director Wang Weiguo couldn't help but ask himself: "Could it be that in ancient times, or 12,000 years ago, some kind of super-large extraterrestrial astronomical event really happened?"

Professor Zhang Qinian nodded gently, "His set of arguments, from the Moon being hollow, density inversion, to the hydraulic damping in lunar seismic experiments, to the one-quarter ratio of Venus/Earth, the twin moon legends, the global great flood; it seems absurd, but in reality, every link is supported by evidence."

"The key is that this evidence is all public, it's just that no one has ever strung it together."

Zhang Lin couldn't help but ask from the side: "So is it really possible that Venus once had a satellite, and that satellite was the Moon?"

Wang Weiguo shook his head, "It's too early to draw conclusions now. But this hypothesis he proposed is at least worth taking seriously."

"If, and I mean if, what he said is all true..."

Professor Zhang Qinian looked up at the big screen, and with a look of despair, added, "Then half of our astronomy textbooks from the last few decades will have to be rewritten."

Huaqing University physics dormitory,

Professor Wu let out a long breath, "I'm convinced."

Guan Jingming nodded, his eyes full of admiration.

Li Mo whispered from the side: "Teacher, what do you think of what he said?"

Professor Guan shook his head, "I don't know, but it's very reasonable!"

"Don't overthink it, just keep listening." Ouyang Baili's mouth curled up slightly, "After tonight, the global astronomical community will have to work overtime."

Qingfeng Temple.

Celestial Master Zhang raised his hand and clapped gently, his eyes full of enthusiasm, "Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!"

He looked at Wang Chongyang, "To be able to link mythology, astronomy, geology, and archaeology all together, the vision of this Xiaoyu's brother is truly not simple!"

Wang Chongyang nodded, "Yes, the Great Dao is simple, yet evolves into complexity; he can see the essence from the complicated phenomena, this is true wisdom."

Zheng Ming sat on the side, the expression on his face was very, if not nine-tenths, complex.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, "What he said does make sense!"

"But—"

As his tone changed.

"He uses a large number of myths as evidence, which means it's impossible."

"Myth is myth, science is science, how can they be mentioned in the same breath?"

Robert, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke, "Binary orbit."

Zheng Ming looked at him, "What?"

The other three looked at Robert at the same time, what binary orbit?

Robert narrowed his eyes, "If the Moon was initially a satellite of Venus, then what conditions are needed for the Moon to leave Venus's orbit and be captured by the Earth?"

"It requires an extremely huge external force, such as an unprecedented massive impact."

He took out his phone, quickly searched for something, and then turned the screen to the three of them.

"Look, this is a photo of the far side of the Moon."

On the phone screen, the topography of the far side of the Moon was clearly visible.

Unlike the flat lunar maria on the near side, the far side was densely covered with craters and highlands, basically with no large flat areas.

"This is the Aitken Basin at the Moon's south pole, about 2500 kilometers in diameter and about 13 kilometers deep, it is one of the largest known impact craters in the Solar System!"

Robert pointed his finger at a huge depression on the picture.

"If the Moon really experienced an impact sufficient to blast it out of Venus's orbit, then the trace left behind must be this!"

"The key is that after the far side of the Moon was hit, the Moon was blasted out, and then captured by the combined gravitational fields of Venus and Earth."

"For a period of time, the Moon was pulled by the gravity of both planets simultaneously!"

"This is a binary orbit."

Celestial Master Zhang raised an eyebrow, "Binary orbit?"

"Yes."

Robert nodded, "If two planets orbit each other, forming a double-planet system, and the distance is close enough, then their combined gravitational field can capture a satellite, allowing this satellite to revolve around the center of mass of this double-planet system."

"This satellite's orbit is stable; it is locked by the two planets into their gravitational field."

"This is the famous 'Three-Body Problem'!"

Fearing the three couldn't understand, he quickly drew a picture on his phone.

[Venus: A, Moon: C, Earth: B].

Venus and Earth are like two adults standing in space, Venus and Earth circling in place—double-planet mutual orbit.

And the Moon is like a smaller child, running circles around these two adults.

Sometimes the Moon runs to the left, right, front, back, above, or below the two.

No matter how the Moon runs, it will be locked by the gravity of either Venus or the Earth.

Seeing this, Zheng Ming, Celestial Master Zhang, and Wang Chongyang all had their eyes light up.

Robert narrowed his eyes and asked with a solemn face:

"Think about it, you three, if what the ancients saw was this scene; two huge celestial bodies orbiting each other in the night sky, and another smaller celestial body moving back and forth around them, how would they record it?"

Wang Chongyang's eyes lit up, and he blurted out, "'Dancing Moon'?"

"Yes." Robert nodded gently, "In the legends of the Hopi Tribe in North America, there was once a dancing moon in the sky, which might refer to this rare celestial state of orbiting a binary system."

Zheng Ming opened his mouth but hesitated.

Damn it, myths and astronomical science can be combined, and combined so irrefutably?

Celestial Master Zhang asked softly, "Mr. Robert, how likely do you think this is?"

Robert was silent for 2.5 seconds before slowly speaking: "The conditions are extremely harsh; the distance, mass, and orbit of the two planets, and the size, speed, and angle of the satellite must all be just right; even a slight deviation won't work."

He paused.

"If I have to say, in the early Solar System, there was probably only a 2% probability."

Zheng Ming's heart jolted, his eyes glowing, "Then that's impossible?"

Robert shook his head, "No, a 2% probability is already very high on a cosmic scale!"

At this moment, he turned his gaze to the big screen, "He can take a global myth about the twin moon problem and use the Three-Body Problem to decrypt it; this level—even the think tank at NASA wouldn't dare to think like this."

"But the truth is often hidden in that range that we humans cannot imagine!"

On the other side, in Principal Fu's office, Ren Xiaoyao was already dumbfounded; he also knew this was a binary system and the Three-Body Problem.

But how could this be possible?

But reality hit him hard; all the ancient myths in the world recorded seeing twin moons or twin suns!

Were the ancients of the whole world playing a super infinite multi-parallel universe box joke on future generations for over ten thousand years?

"What's wrong?" Principal Fu asked when he saw Ren Xiaoyao's expression was not good.

He shook his head, brows furrowed, "I don't know why, but just now, I felt like I had studied fake astronomy for over twenty years."

"Haha!"

Principal Fu laughed and slapped his belly like a seal, "Relax, relax, he has always been this subversive to human cognition!"

Inside the big screen, in the living room, on the sofa.

Xiao Yu couldn't help but ask again: "Brother, is there really evidence for this hypothesis that Venus threw out the Moon, or is it just pure science fiction?"

After she finished speaking, the barrage in the live broadcast room quickly followed.

"It must be fantasy!"

"It's even dragged into mythology, how can it be real?"

"Exactly, can mythology be used as scientific evidence?"

"I believed what my brother said before, but this is a bit too mysterious."

"Rationalist passing by, waiting to be slapped in the face."

"..."

Unexpectedly, Jiang Zhe suddenly grinned, "Xiao Yu, this famous binary system and Three-Body Problem can actually be true!"