A Realistic Planet with 3 Moons

[jmhuff]

I apologize if this is not allowed here, I'm just trying to find a reliable place to go for advice and information for a project. I'm not savvy on this topic in any manner. I know next to nothing about it.

I'm in the beginning stages of writing a novel, and I'm considering the planet having three moons, each moon affecting various aspects of the planet. The moons will rarely be active at the same time—such an occurrence would be a rare phenomenon.

All that being said, how can I do this in a scientifically sound/believable way? I will basically imply that the solar system has had billions of years of evolving for these things to have settled into place and found balance among one another. I know I need to consider the size, angle, and distance of each moon from one another and from the planet because of gravitational pull and such. I just don't even know where to begin learning about how to determine the factors necessary to ensure this is being done in a scientifically sound way.

Again, there will generally be one moon active at a time. However, there will be rare occurrences where a combination of the moons, or even all three moons, are active at the same time. And by "active" I mean visible in the sky

I apologize of this doesn't make sense or if I'm using any incorrect terminology. As I said, I know nothing about this stuff and am trying to figure out where to start learning the information I need to know to perform this part of the world building process.

Edited September 23, 2023 by jmhuff
Typo correction

[Halc]

There's plenty of planets in our own system with multiple moons, including ones with moons of a larger percentage of mass relative to the primary than our own moon.

There are moons with nearly identical orbits such that they must locally interact, and yet in a stable way.

Any given moon is visible in the sky from about half the planet, and thus pretty much half the time from any given vantage point on the planet unless the planet is tide locked with one of the moons. If there are three of them with random orbits/periods, all three will be visible about an 8th of the time from a given place, so calling it 'rare' seems implausible.