The Moon is shrinking

Didnt know either but thats the news, isnt it?  So I bet even Mike didnt know :).  Doesnt bode well for future total solar eclipses! especially given that we already know that our moon's orbit is getting further away over time!

Actually. as the moon moves away, it may not shrink as fast a rate as the Earth's influence will get less and less.

So I bet even Mike didnt know 🙂

No, you're right... I didn't! But it makes a lot of sense.

And yes, the Moon is slowing moving away - 1.5 inches a year. This is a bit odd though... this gives an implied age of the Earth-Lunar orbit of only 1.5 billion years, when other evidence shows it as 4 billion years.

See here for more details: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1029/1999GL008348/asset/grl12223.pdf;jsessionid=D627BAF4B2775FB40DC0567647AEDDE0.f04t01?v=1&t=ildhgs3m&s=e735564394c7d963df55d3bb695c37c232b23b10

So I bet even Mike didnt know
No, you’re right… I didn’t!

Make a note of this date, ladies and gentlemen! You'll be telling your grandchildren about it 😉

<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title">Tej wrote:</div>
So I bet even Mike didnt know

No, you’re right… I didn’t! But it makes a lot of sense. And yes, the Moon is slowing moving away – 1.5 inches a year. This is a bit odd though… this gives an implied age of the Earth-Lunar orbit of only 1.5 billion years, when other evidence shows it as 4 billion years. See here for more details: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1029/1999GL008348/asset/grl12223.pdf;jsessionid=D627BAF4B2775FB40DC0567647AEDDE0.f04t01?v=1&t=ildhgs3m&s=e735564394c7d963df55d3bb695c37c232b23b10

The link is forbidding me access, Mike.

But that's interesting.  Coincidentally, the online FutureLearn Moons course started this week, so an opportunity to raise this up with the educators.

Maybe dark energy is accelerating the moon 🙂   Or perhaps , in the moon's early billion years, its speed was fluctuating from to  changes in mass due to asteroid bombardments adding and releasing material, volcanic activity spitting gravity escaping material etc.

That's annoying... the link only appears to work via Google.

Try this one instead: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/1999GL008348/epdf