Fact #047
Earth & tides
The Moon steadies Earth's tilt. Without it, our axis would likely wander much more, and climate with it.
A large moon damps the chaotic tilt wobbles that gravitational nudges from other planets would otherwise produce. Mars, with two tiny moons, has swung its tilt dramatically over millions of years. How much worse Earth would be is debated, but the Moon is a stabiliser.
Source: Laskar et al., Nature (1993) · checked Aug 2026