DW> I thought a bit more about the conditions for a satellite
 DW> having an orbit that is always concave toward the sun. Of
 DW> course, it boils down to the strengths of the gravitational
 DW> pulls of the planet and the sun on the satellite. If the
 DW> sun attracts it more strongly than the planet, then the
 DW> satellite's path will bend toward the sun, and away from
 DW> the planet, when the satellite passes between the planet
 DW> and the sun. So the condition is:
 DW>
 DW> M / (R^2) > m / (r^2)
 DW>
 DW> where M is the mass of the sun, m is the mass of the planet,
 DW> R is the radius of the planet's orbit around the sun, and r
 DW> is the radius of the satellite's orbit around the planet.

ok, i got all that...

 DW> The Earth-Moon system system satisfies this condition.

hunh? ok, i'll accept that with an eye toward "lunar eclipse" as
well as "body rotation" (which is what keeps the same face of the
moon facing the sun all the time) ;)

in fact, i recall some studies that state that the moon is removing
rotational speed from the earth (via tidal forces, i believe) and that at
some time in the distant future, the earth will stop rotating... this same
recollection also states that this is one possible explanation for biblical
longevity statements... ie: their years were shorter giving them more of
them in the same rotational and circumferential period that we have now...
ie: 365 days to circle the sun...

does that make sense? i sure hope so...

)\/(ark