I heard that the moon is slowly getting farther away from earth so is it possible to crash into the sun??

Question

i just thought of this cause i heard that the moon is getting farther away from earth slowly so i was wondering if its possible for it (while its orbiting) to crash into the sun.

Answer 1

The Sun is 93 million miles away from the Earth, while the Moon is only 250 thousand miles away from us. Meanwhile, the Moon is drifting away from the earth at a rate of less than 4 centimeters per year. Assuming that the distance of the Moon from the Earth continues to increase (and assuming that it does not slowly lose momentum), an incredibly long stretch of time would be required for the Moon to drift far enough away to break the Earth's orbit.

However, assuming such a thing were possible, the Moon would fall into orbit around the Sun long before it would be "sucked in". The Sun is a massive celestial body that has far more gravitational force than the Earth, and as such would easily pluck the Moon into a solar orbit if it were ever to drift beyond the Earth's dominant pull. I wouldn't worry (or get excited) about it though, as you and I will be long gone and the Sun will go supernova long before our beloved Moon has a chance to file for celestial divorce.

It's an interesting thought, though.

Answer 2

Not possible.

The Moon is getting farther away from Earth, slowly. But this motion will eventually stop - mostly because in 5 billion years or so the Sun is going to expand into a red giant and fry the Earth (and Moon) and this will mess up their orbits (to put it mildly).

Even if the Sun wasn't going to die, the Moon would eventually not get any farther from Earth. Along with the Moon getting farther away, Earth's rotation is slowing down. Right now the Moon keeps the same side always facing Earth, eventually (if the Sun weren't going to die) Earth would keep the same side always facing the Moon. At that point the Moon wouldn't get any farther from Earth.

Answer 3

The Earth, like the other planets, are being slowly driven away from the Sun. Two mechanisms explain that: one is the rotation of the Sun on its axis, which creates a coupling and momentum transfer between the Sun (which slows down over time) and the planets which pick up this lost rotational energy as additional potential energy making them drift slowly (very slowly) out. For the record, the same coupling exists between the spinning Earth and the Moon, which also drifts away. The second mechanism is that the Sun is losing 4 million tonnes of mass (converted into energy, as a result of fusing hydrogen into helium) every second. A progressively less massive Sun makes for a body that does not hold its satellites in a constant "grip".

Answer 4

It is impossible as the moon is in a orbit near the earth. It may be stable after at least 20 years. Even if it moves ,there are other planets to stop it for a number of years

Answer 5

We believe the orbit will eventually degrade and the Moon and Earth will collide. Rumors that this is happening next Monday are completely unfounded, according to the Bush administration, the people you can trust!

Answer 6

If that is possible, it will take an extremely long time (i.e. at least a few million years), so it is of little immediate concern to anyone.

Answer 7

All the planets are actually slowly falling toward the sun.

Answer 8

yes i believe it is true but it would take something like milliions or billions of years, and mostlikly wouldnt have too much of a catastrophic effect of people on earth, just things like wave patterns and seasons i think, but this is just of the top of my head so don't blame me if im wrong

Answer 9

That is possible but it will not happen for a long long time.

Answer 10

No way. This earths stands forever.