The Moon is Moving Away from Earth

The Moon has been called by a few different names throughout history. The Romans knew it as Luna while the Greeks called it Artemis. It is the brightest object in the sky and is the only satellite Earth has. Distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Moon is 238,897 long space miles, but that is changing.

Because the Moon is close to the Earth, its orbiting the Earth has a direct affect on tides and in turn our weather. The gravitational pull of the Moon causes atmospheric tides, a wave that propagates throughout the atmosphere. The pull of the Moon bulges water from the ocean, out and away from the earth's surface, towards the Moon. The pull on the other side of the Earth, opposite the Moon is not as strong so the water depresses. This constant push and pull by the Moon as it moves around Earth raises and lowers the tide.

Every 27 days the Moon orbits the Earth and changes the angle that the Earth, the Moon and the Sun rotate on. These are called Moon Phases; there are 8 phases total. The phases of the Moon are relative to the positions of the Moon and Sun. A New Moon occurs when the Sun and Moon are close to each other in the sky. When the Sun and Moon are at opposite positions a Full Moon is the result. When the Sun and Moon are around 90 degrees apart they form what we know as the first and last quarter phases.

The Moon rotates on its own tilted axis once in almost the same amount of time it takes to travel around the planet Earth. The Earth rotates faster than the Moon moves in its orbit so that they are not equally aligned twice a day. This misalignment has caused Earth's rotation to slow in minute measures and the Moon's rotation to speed up.

The Moon is moving 1 ½ inches every year away from planet Earth. When it has moved another 14,600 miles we will no longer have the privilege to see a total eclipse. The Moon will be too far in space to completely eclipse the Sun. Eventually the distance between Earth and the Moon will be so great that the gravitational pull on Earth's tides will be insignificant.