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the Moon leaves us...

impactcrater

By impactcrater
in The Astro Lounge

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Zakalwe

Zakalwe

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It will still remain orbiting the Earth. The increase is in the order of millimetres per year, as the friction of the tidal forces on Earth gradually slows our rotation. In the distant future both the Earth and Moon will be tidally locked together and at that point there will be no further increase in the distance.

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Paul M

Paul M

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The same tidal interaction causes drag on Earth's axial rotation. The days are slowly getting longer!

As the Moon drifts out it's orbital period increases too.

Eventually Earth's rotation would become locked to the Moon's orbital period. 

Not sure I've ever seen any figures but our day could be longer than the current 28 day lunation.

Actually I guess that before then the 3 Body Problem will come into play and the Moon will be ejected into an unstable orbit not bound to Earth.

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symesie04

symesie04

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I heard it was considering retiring to a lovely rural location just outside the asteroid belt.

The same tidal interaction causes drag on Earth's axial rotation. The days are slowly getting longer!

And i thought it just seemed that way as i got older ;(

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SlyReaper

SlyReaper

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It will still remain orbiting the Earth. The increase is in the order of millimetres per year, as the friction of the tidal forces on Earth gradually slows our rotation. In the distant future both the Earth and Moon will be tidally locked together and at that point there will be no further increase in the distance.

It's worth noting that by the time this happens, the sun will have swelled into a red giant and then shrunk down into white dwarf form.  The jury is still out on whether the Earth and moon would be enveloped and destroyed by the sun during its red giant phase.

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Zakalwe

Zakalwe

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It's worth noting that by the time this happens, the sun will have swelled into a red giant and then shrunk down into white dwarf form.  The jury is still out on whether the Earth and moon would be enveloped and destroyed by the sun during its red giant phase.

Hehe..if we are still around then the position of the Moon will be the least of the problems!

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SlyReaper

SlyReaper

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Strictly speaking the Earth has no moon.

The Earth and the Moon are a binary system orbiting a barycentre.

Strictly speaking, you're wrong.  The barycentre is inside the Earth and the Moon is well within the Earth's Hill sphere.  By every definition, the Moon is a moon.

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DRT

DRT

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I believe the Jodrell bank observatory in Cheshire monitors the distance the moon is moving away from Earth by firing a laser at a mirror left by one of the Apollo mission's.

Kenny.

Really? Sounds like a collimation nightmare to me :lol:

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Kropster

Kropster

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I believe the Jodrell bank observatory in Cheshire monitors the distance the moon is moving away from Earth by firing a laser at a mirror left by one of the Apollo mission's.

Kenny.

Surely some kind of hoax, if we are to believe the conspiracy theorists on the Moon landings!

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