The moon’s orbit is changing. Is that a bad thing?
The moon that orbits our Earth has been central in literature and mythology for centuries. It also is featured prominently in movies, the most recent being ‘Moonfall’, a highly improbable sci-fi speculation about what it would be like if the moon was not a big ball of Rock in orbit around the earth but was actually a hollow construct about to collide with the earth. Over the years I've read several books with this idea. (some better than others)
This is not reality but the one thing that this movie demonstrates without a doubt is that if the moon changes its orbit serious things can happen on our planet but the change in orbit would have to be drastic.
So, is the moon's orbit changing? It still seems like it's in the right place in the sky so, what's going on?
According to msn.com,
‘It turns out that the Moon is moving away from Earth at us at 3.82 centimeters (about 1.5 in) a year. That means that, eventually, it’ll result in Earth days lasting 25 hours in 200 million years' time.
So, in a human lifetime, that three score and 10 years. (more now) The moon will slowly drift away from the Earth, a distance of 229.6 centimeters. Not a lot of distance, is it something to be concerned about?
Think of it this way.
The farther away from the Earth the moon is the longer our day will last. Now we will only experience an increase in fractions but over the course of 200 million years our day will wind up being a little over 25 hours long. So, you can relax, you don't need to get a new clock. Besides, the clock in your phone would probably automatically adjust, assuming we're using phones in 200 million years.
The Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth and it's beginning to impact us (msn.com)
moon | indy100
Thank the moon for Earth’s lengthening day (wisc.edu)
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