3 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science
Where is the moon going so that our progeny won't see solar eclipses any longer?
Assuming we survived ourselves, didn't blow ourselves up.
Comment by CapWasRight at 26/04/2023 at 19:51 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The very short version is that tidal effects are slowing the rotation of the Earth and that angular momentum is getting transferred into the orbit of the Moon, which is gradually getting further away. So, eventually the Moon will be too small in the sky to completely obscure the Sun and all eclipses that would have been total will just be annular. This is just part of the natural process of tidal locking, which I think is going to take a couple billion more years for the Earth if I'm remembering right.