The moon is always in the night sky, but in reality not everything is as it seems.
Scientists have discovered that the moon is moving away from Earth, changing everything we thought we knew about the relationship between Earth and its only natural satellite. There was found.
It also has a very real effect on the length of the day on Earth, albeit at an incredibly slow rate.
As the Moon moves away from Earth over millions of years, the length of the average day also increases.
a study The study by a team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison focused on rocks from geological formations that are 90 million years old. In doing so, they were able to analyze the interaction between the Earth and the moon 1.4 billion years ago.
It turns out that the moon is moving away from the Earth toward us by 3.82 centimeters per year. So eventually, in 200 million years, Earth days will last 25 hours.
“As the moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater slowing down as his arm stretches out,” said Steven Myers, a professor of geosciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He added: “One of our ambitions was to use astrochronology to tell time in the most distant past and develop very ancient geological timescales.
“We want to be able to study rocks that are billions of years old in the same way that we study modern geological processes.”
This isn’t the only recent story that has changed our understanding of the moon.
Scientists also just discovered billions of years’ worth of secrets buried beneath the moon’s surface, all thanks to China’s space program. They discovered a structure that had been destroyed.
sign up Free Indy100 Weekly Newsletter
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help move this article higher in the indy100 rankings.