The Day the Earth Stood Still

[Priestess]

Originally Posted by Dana Gold

You've not given the mass and density of the objects (gas giant and rock-like object) of either scenario; therefore it cannot be determined...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit

Unless you would perhaps know of a solution, in which case, please enlighten me.

Dana

For a rocklike moon, just using the density of our moon, and for the gas giant using the density of jupiter or saturn. The actual mass for either would be that density times it's volume, volume being (4/3)pi*r^3 based on the other body's diameter. The diameter would be based on the distance from the earth, as big as it can be such that the mass isn't too great for the distance. Then out of all possible distances, choosing the distance that results in the maximum value of (diameter/distance). My calculus is really way rusty, otherwise I might have an answer to my question.

The question mattered to me on artistic grounds, I wanted to know exactly how big I could draw something in the sky without it being impossible, when I didn't care how big it really was, or how far away.