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Earth's natural satellite, the Moon, is moving 3.8 centimeters away from this inhabited planet every year, a phenomenon that scientists can now measure with laser precision, according to an article in ScienceAlert.
This gradual separation, although tiny, has notable consequences, as it causes Earth's days to lengthen imperceptibly, according to expert Stephen DiKerby, an astrophysics researcher at Michigan State University.
Experts are said to calculate these distances by bouncing laser beams off mirrors left on the lunar surface by astronauts and space probes.
The reason for this distancing lies in a phenomenon as common as the tides, explains the magazine Muy Interesante.
The Moon's gravitational pull causes the oceans to bulge slightly on the side of the planet closest to it. But since the Earth rotates faster than the Moon takes to orbit, these bulges tend to move ahead of the satellite, generating a kind of gravitational "pull" that acts as a brake, the publication clarifies.
It adds that this not only gradually slows the Earth's rotation, lengthening the days, but also transfers some of that energy to the Moon, pushing it into a higher orbit. It's as if the Earth were gradually throwing the Moon further away in a cosmic dance that is constantly rebalancing itself, notes Muy Interesante.
In the future, this slow phenomenon, which is known and studied, will change the days, the tides, and even eclipses.
Other sources indicate that the process of the natural satellite moving away from the Earth functions as an exchange of momentum between both celestial bodies; As the Moon gains momentum and moves away, our planet must give up some of its momentum, causing its rotation to slow down very gradually.
On the other hand, paleontologists confirmed this theory by studying fossilized clam shells from 70 million years ago, and discovered that days lasted only 23.5 hours during the time of the dinosaurs, highlights the website el universo.com. (Text and photo: PL)
