Waltemath's moons is the name given to a group of tiny moons orbiting the Earth that was claimed to have been located by Georg Waltemath, a Hamburg scientist that began his search for any secondary moons based on the hypothesis that something was gravitationally affecting the Moon's orbit.[1]
Properties & History[]
According to Waltemath, he described one of the moons as being around 700 kilometers in diameter, and sat over 1,030,000 kilometers away from Earth. Its sidereal period was around 119 days, and its synodic period was around 177 days.[2] The said moon was thought to not reflect enough sunlight to be observed without a telescope, unless if it's viewed at certain times. Waltemath had made many predictions for its next appearances for when it becomes observable.[3]
E. Stone Wiggins, a Canadian weather expert, believed that the cold spring of 1907 was the effects of a second moon, which he had claimed to have spotted back in 1882 and had publicized it in 1884 in the New-York Tribune. In the said publication, Wiggins had also believed that the anomalous solar eclipse of may of that year may've been caused by the second moon. He would go on to say that it was possibly the "green crescent moon" first seen in New Zealand and then in North America in 1886, with periods of less than a half-hour each time. Wiggins had also said that the second moon may've been the one that Waltemath saw in 1898, and later on hypothesized that it had a high carbon atmosphere that could be seen occasionally by its reflected light.
It has been mentioned by the August 1898 issue of Science that Waltemath sent a journal named "an announcement of a third moon", in which he termed the existence of a "wahrhafter Wetter- und Magnet-Mond".[4] This third moon was thought to be larger than the previous one, at around 746 kilometers in diameter, and sat much more closer to Earth, at around 427,250 kilometers.[5]
The existence of Waltemath's moons put forward by Waltemath and Wiggins were discredited after the absence of the corroborating observations by other astronomers, including the prediction that the moons would be seen in February 1898.[6]
Lilith[]
Sepharial, also known as Walter Gorn Old, claimed to have spotted and confirmed the existence of one of the moons that Waltemath had spotted. This moon was given the name "Lilith", and it was thought to be a dark moon invisible for most of its time. Sepharial claimed that he was the first person in history to have observed and witness it cross the Sun.[7] However, his comments did ignore the fact that the existence of Waltemath's moons were already discredited by the scientific community. Since then, the existence of Lilith is only believed by many fringe science groups.
Trivia[]
- The term "wahrhafter Wetter- und Magnet-Mond" means "real weather and magnet moon" in German.
- The name "Lilith" is now only used by astrologers for the position of the Moon's apogee.
| Hypothetical Bodies, Hypothetical Objects, Hypothetical Regions and Hypotheses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hypothetical planets | Inner Solar System | Enyo and Bellona • Vulcan • Counter-Earth • Nibiru • Theia • Phaeton • Planet V • Krypton |
| Outer Solar System | Fifth Giant • Uranus Impactor • Triton’s Binary Partner • Haumea Impactor • Quaoar Impactor • Brahma • Vishnu • Oceanus • Hades • Planet Nine • Planet Ten • Rodney's Planet • Planet X • Pickering's Planets • Trans-Plutonian planet • Tyche • Oort cloud planet | |
| Hypothetical Moons | Inner Solar System | Disproven Moons of Mercury • Neith • Petit's moon • Waltemath's moons • Bagby's Moons • Moons of Pallas • Moon of Hebe |
| Outer Solar System | Chiron • Chrysalis • Themis • Sedna I • Varuna I • Herschel's Moons | |
| Hypothetical Stellar Objects | Nemesis • Coatlicue | |
| Hypothetical Regions | Vulcanoid Belt • Hills Cloud • Oort cloud | |
| Hypotheses and Models | Himalia Crash Theory • Iapetus' Ring System • Nibiru cataclysm • Rings of the Moon | |