Rotation of the Moon around the Earth - features of the space tandem

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Like most moons in the universe, the Moon is made entirely of solid rock. It is lifeless and all covered with scars in the form of numerous craters, indicating a huge number of cosmic collisions at a time when the young solar system had not yet acquired stability and order. The rotation of the Moon around the Earth is one of the key factors in the origin and development of life on our blue ball.

Despite the similarity of the Moon with many other known satellites, in some ways it is unique. For a long time it was believed that the Moon was formed from the material left over from the birth of the Earth. But in 1960, researchers put forward a completely different theory, according to which our natural satellite was formed as a result of a grandiose collision of the Earth with another planet the size of Mars. According to scientists, this is how the rotation beganMoon around the Earth.

But this hypothesis was tested only in 1969, when the astronauts participating in the Apollo program brought rock samples from the Moon. After analyzing the stones, the scientists were simply amazed - they turned out to be identical to the rock, which is extremely common on our planet. And they were overheated, which fully confirmed the collision theory, which was initially coldly received in scientific circles.

About four and a half billion years ago, the solar system was an unimaginably chaotic and extreme place. Earth was one of hundreds of planets orbiting the young star. All these objects collided with each other, and only the largest of them survived. The earth was lucky - it was large enough to survive. And even got her own companion.

When the rotation of the Moon around the Earth began, it was only twenty-four thousand kilometers from our planet. If you could look into the sky five hundred million years after the formation of the Moon, it would take up most of it. She was so close. And the speed of rotation of the Moon around the Earth then was completely different, however, like our ball itself, which was not yet blue.

It's hard to believe now, but then the speed of our planet's revolution was so huge that the day lasted only six hours. The proximity of the moon, combined with its gravity, played the role of a kind of brake. So in the earthly days appearedtwenty four hours. However, this process was mutual - under the influence of the gravitational field of our planet, the rotation of the Moon around the Earth also slowed down.

But this is not the only mutual influence of this heavenly tandem. The moon's gravity also creates giant tides across the planet that churn the seas, mixing minerals and nutrients. This "lunar effect" created something like a "primordial soup", from which the first forms of life later appeared on our planet. Without the influence of the Moon, life on Earth could not have arisen…

Now our natural satellite revolves around the Earth in an ordered elliptical orbit. For many centuries, people have been observing the ever-shrinking lunar disk. This is due to the fact that the Moon, according to the law of centrifugal force, moves away from the Earth by about five centimeters annually. As long as the gravitational balance firmly holds the satellite in orbit. But such an option is not ruled out that someday the Moon will become an independent celestial object.