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According to the [[NASA]]/[[IPAC]] extragalactic database, ''for a satellite of negligible mass, zero tensile strength, and the same mean density as its primary, in a circular orbit around its primary, this critical distance is 2.44 times the radius of the primary. (For the Moon, whose density is lower than that of Earth, the Roche limit would be 2.9 Earth radii.)''<ref>[http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Glossary/Glossary_R.html Caltech Astronomical Glossary]</ref>
According to the [[NASA]]/[[IPAC]] extragalactic database, ''for a satellite of negligible mass, zero tensile strength, and the same mean density as its primary, in a circular orbit around its primary, this critical distance is 2.44 times the radius of the primary. (For the Moon, whose density is lower than that of Earth, the Roche limit would be 2.9 Earth radii.)''<ref>[http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Glossary/Glossary_R.html Caltech Astronomical Glossary]</ref>
Thus the [[Moon]] couldn't circle the [[Earth]] in a distance less than 18,500km (11,500 miles).
Thus the [[Moon]] couldn't circle the [[Earth]] in a distance less than 18,500 km (11,500 miles).
As the ''Roche lobe'' and the ''Roche sphere'', the Roche limit is named after the [[French]] physicist Édouard Albert Roche (1820 – 1883).
As the ''Roche lobe'' and the ''Roche sphere'', the Roche limit is named after the [[French]] physicist Édouard Albert Roche (1820 – 1883).