Our planet’s faithful companion has existed for 4.5 billion years. However, like everything in the , it is not static. Dr. Steven Dickey, an astrophysicist at the University of Michigan, reported that the Moon is drifting away from Earth at a rate of 3.8 centimeters each year.
As a result, he explained, the rotation of the is slowing down. This means that, over time, our days could become longer.
This discovery helps explain why, around 70 million years ago, towards the end of the era, a day on Earth lasted only 23.5 hours.
As the continues to drift away, the number of seconds, minutes, and eventually hours in a day will gradually increase. However, it’s likely that no one currently living on Earth will notice this change.
“Don’t worry, these effects are very minimal. 3.8 centimeters a year compared to the distance of 384,000 kilometers is just 0.00000001 percent per year,” the researcher reassured.
Dr. Dickey explained that the Moon is moving away from us due to tidal forces. These tides and ebbs on Earth largely depend on the Moon’s gravitational pull, which causes our to form two bulges. One bulge faces the Moon, where the gravitational force is strongest, while the other bulge faces away from the Moon, where the gravitational force is weakest.
“These tidal bulges slightly ‘lead’ the Moon because the Earth rotates and pulls them forward. The gravitational pull from the closer tidal bulge causes the Moon to accelerate, which results in an increase in the size of its orbit. Thus, the Moon is gradually drifting away from Earth,” the scientist continued. He also assured that this effect is very gradual and imperceptible.
“If we fast forward billions of years, the Earth’s rotation may slow down until it becomes tidally locked with the Moon. At that point, it will stop drifting away, and you will only see it from one side of the Earth,” Dr. Dickey said.
However, future generations will never witness this phenomenon, as reported by Daily Mail.
First, in about a billion years, the Sun will become brighter and evaporate the oceans, meaning there will no longer be tides affecting the Moon’s position in the sky, the scientist explained. Secondly, in a few billion years, the Sun will transform into a red giant, which will likely destroy both Earth and the Moon.
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