How far does the moon move away from earth every year?

Question

I heard that each year the earth moves a distance of about 3 centimeters, is this true?

Answer 1

about 3.8 cm a year. about 1.5 in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

Answer 2

* This is a cool website! Check it out. Hope I helped. Have a good day. :)


The Moon's Orbit
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The Moon moves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit of small eccentricity, inclined by 5 deg 8' 43''.4 to the plane in which the Earth revolves around the Sun. Its distance from the Earth varies between 356,000 and 407,000 km (221,000 and 253,000 miles) in the course of each month; the average distance is 384,400 km (238,900 miles), less than 1% of the distance to Venus and Mars, even at the time of their closest approach. The lunar globe appears in the sky as a disc of a little over half a degree (31' 5''.2) in apparent diameter.

The period in which the Moon completes an orbit around the Earth and returns to the same position in the sky--the sidereal month--is 27 days, 7 h, 43 min, and 11.6 sec. Because the Earth is moving in its orbit around the Sun in the same direction as the Moon, the time needed to return to the same phase--the synodic month--is longer: 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds. This period is the time interval that, for example, elapses between two successive full moons, a period that was known within a second even in ancient times. The Moon's average velocity is 1.023 km/sec (0.635 mi/sec), corresponding to a mean angular velocity in the sky of about 33 minutes of arc per hour, a little greater than the apparent diameter of the Moon.

If you want to see phases, longitudinal libration, latitudinal libration, perigee and apogee all in one film, just open this animation created by John Kielkopf at the University of Louisville. It runs slowly through the first lunation, and then rapidly so you can see the moon rock and roll. It is also available at the site: http://www.astro.louisville.edu/lunation.gif

Answer 3

While the current rate of recession is about 3.8 cm per year, in the past it has been much less than that.

The recession is caused by the actions of the tides (on Earth) pushing against the continents. This pushing slows the Earth's rotation, and the angular momentum is transferred to the Moon, which gets farther away as a result.

But the pushing of tides against the continents varies over millions of years, because continents move due to the action of plate tectonics. Currently the continents are positioned with a lot of north-south coastlines, which is ideal for slowing our rotation and causing the Moon to recede. With fewer continents and fewer north-south coastlines, the rate of recession would be much less -- and has been, in the past.

Answer 4

It varies, as other factors affect the lunar orbit - Earth is closer to the sun at certain points in it's orbit, and if the moon is in or near new-moon phase, the solar gravity actually *slows* the moon's tendency to drift away, and if the moon is in or near full-moon phase, the distance between Earth and moon is even more pronounced; but in general, it's a little less than 2 inches per year.

Answer 5

I've heard various details that the Earth is slingshoting (excuse my spelling) the moon away so about a few centimeters.

Answer 6

Roughly 3.8 centimeters. The second part of your question is too vague to answer.

Answer 7

1 inch

Answer 8

Possible bit I think it is more than that. The orbit is not a circle . It is also very stable.

Answer 9

it moves about the size of your penis away from earth..(1 inch)