...And, just for good measure, a gravitic garden path

From Einstein's Universe, by Nigel Calder, which I'm not entirely sure why I'm currently rereading:

As cosmic bodies go, the Moon is but a pebble yet, because it is so close to the Earth, its tidal influence is more than twice as great as the Sun's.

The first part looks like a nonsensical—but complete—sentence: the Moon is still small because it's nearby, but maybe it'll get larger when it moves farther away? And then I hit what looks like a comma splice. And then I back up and realize that there really ought to have been a comma before yet:

As cosmic bodies go, the Moon is but a pebble, yet, because it is so close to the Earth, its tidal influence is more than twice as great as the Sun's.

Or, if you don't like the look of a monosyllable hemmed in by commas on both sides, it would be quite appropriate to omit the first of the commas setting off the because clause:

As cosmic bodies go, the Moon is but a pebble, yet because it is so close to the Earth, its tidal influence is more than twice as great as the Sun's.

The worst of it is that now I can't get this damn song out of my head.