The moon is getting further and further away!
You would be wrong to believe that the Moon's drifting away from Earth would not have a significant effect on humans.
Most of us are probably guilty of believing that the Earth’s only natural satellite remains at a constant distance from our planet.
And gravitational pull is the cause of all of it.
However, current research has revealed that the Earth's and the Moon's relationship is waning. Why is that?
Well, what we do know is that this gradual breakdown has resulted in the globe spinning slower, and as a result, having a major impact on time.
In reality, as the Moon gradually recedes, scientists have discovered that Earth's days are growing longer.
According to scientific theories, 1.4 billion years ago, a day on Earth lasted only eighteen hours.
Meyers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a co-author of the paper, compared Earth's motion to that of a spinning figure skater who slows down as they extend their arms.
“One of our ambitions was to use Astrochronology to tell time in the most distant past, to develop very ancient geological time scales,” he continued. “We want to be able to study rocks that are billions of years old in a way that is comparable to how we study modern geologic processes.”
The process of integrating geological observations with astronomical theory is known as astrochronology.
In 2022, Professor Meyers and his colleagues set out to reconstruct what they thought the solar system looked like in the past by taking a close look at Earth's past.
Sediments from a rock formation that is 90 million years old were examined by the researchers. According to reports, this is how the scientists found evidence of Earth's climate cycles.
According to the results, the Moon is currently moving away from Earth at a speed of 1.5 inches (3.81 centimeters) each year.
Scientists have also concluded that the Moon once would have been so close that the Earth’s gravitational interactions would have ripped apart the Moon.
Co-author of the paper Professor Alberto Malinvero remarked, "It was exciting because, in a way, you dream of this all the time; I was a solution looking for a problem."
However, it is important to note that scientists know that the Moon itself is 4.5 billion years old. Therefore, their calculations could be somewhat inaccurate.
But one thing is certain—the length of the days on Earth is undoubtedly increasing.
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