I thought it was the opposite? Moon Facts - NASA Science[Note that ranger finder was still working. It shows the Moon is moving toward Earth at 2 inches per year.]
55 years ago Apollo 11 was Launched heading to the Moon !
- Thread starter JamesG161
- Start date
Yes, I heard about the Moon moving away from the Earth on the radio yesterday.
From David's link
"The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth, getting about an inch farther away each year."
So @Ralph Johnstone we are saved for a while.
My facts may have been, old like me, but it was true during the Apollo years.
_____
I will end my Celebration of Apollo 11 with the picture of Buzz Aldrin...
Jim...
It makes sense, though. Any harmonic system can be affected by more than one rhythm. In the case of a gravity driven harmonic, the orbital cycle is likely to fluctuate as the orbit degrades (falls closer), but speeds up, causing a greater inertial force to move the orbiting body back outward.
As with a pendulum, the farther from the center of rotation, the slower the travel along the arc of orbit the bob will move. The harmonic volume can't be maintained in a orbit like it would be with a pendulum swing, so the period speeds up or slows down to maintain the same energy level. I would be very surprised if the moon did not get closer, then farther away, through the months, years, millenia. It is likely that it also has larger extremes in its cycles causing things like, "Great Floods" and changing weather events on Earth. The Sun's activities, I'm sure, also drive the system a little. Just like there are moon driven tides on Earth's surface, I'll bet there are also moon driven tides in the core that may cause things like El Niño, wandering magnetic pole, and cycles of hightened volcanic activity. The system is way to complex to be able to point to one cause for most natural rhythms on Earth.
But, I would suggest waxing your boat because you never know when you might get in an accident, and you don't want to get caught in the equivalent of "dirty nautical underwear" when you are taken to the boat hospital.
-Will
The moon travels in an ellipse to get farther away it has to get closer to earth, they just don't want people to know about the closer part...
Good idea. Always need to be wearing clean nautical underwear.
Mind you, that's no easy task when you see all the close calls with the motorized yahoos around here. Below is a shot of my fore stay on a typical afternoon outing
.