When did the moon stop spinning?

Question

The obvious addition to this question should perhaps be "spinning in relation to what?"

Answer 1

Didn't realise it ever did!

Answer 2

When did the Moon's spin become tidally locked to the Earth? It's very hard to be sure, the mathematics are still being worked out. The Russians have "The Moon - 2012+" project that will help answer questions like this.

Right now, a good guess would be in the range 3.8 to 3 billion years ago.

Answer 3

The Moon has not stopped spinning [rotating].

The Moon rotates once during each orbit of the Earth. This means that the Moon keeps once side of itself always facing the earth.

The Moon Both the rotation of the Moon and its revolution around Earth takes 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes. This synchronous rotation is caused by an ...
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/moon.htm

Moon Rotation Movie Moon Video: Moon Rotation Movie. ... This is an animation of the rotating moon. It is Copyrighted © 1998 by Calvin J. Hamilton. Permission is granted to use ...
http://www.solarviews.com/cap/moon/vmoon1.htm

The Rotation of the Moon - The only point of reference for rotation of the Moon is its own axis, which does not spin. The Moon' forward motion takes on a elliptical path about the ...
http://www.grantchronicles.com/astro29.htm

Any and all of the above sites will explain the Moon's rotation as she glides majestically in her orbit around Mother Earth.

Goddess of the Moon [She]

Lunar deity - Wikipedia, In mythology, a lunar deity is a god or goddess associated with or symbolizing the moon: see moon (mythology). These deities can have a variety of functions ...
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_deity

Moon - The most visible symbol of feminine energy in the solar system is the Moon. Because it reflects the light from the sun, the pale orb in the night sky has ...
http://www.goddess.astrology.com/moon/index.html

The Moon Goddess is named Artemis in Greece. Here in Britain she is named Eostre [Eastera] after which our Pagan Festival of Easter is named.

Adler Planetarium / CyberSpace / The Moon / Culture: Our Moon in ...The Anglo-Saxon goddess of the Spring was called Eostre (or Ostara or Oestra). ... The Greek goddess of the Moon was called Selene, who drove the Moon's ...
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/cyberspace/moon/culture.html

My Notes: Here in Britain we still measure time by the ancient Lunar method = fortnight [14 days] approx half a Lunar month = 28 days.

In the USA the Indian Nations still measure time by the moon. "Many moons ago....etc!"

Answer 4

The Moon hasn't stopped spinning. It's just that the drag of the earth's gravity gradually slowed it down until it took the same time to orbit around the Earth as it takes to spin on its axis.

It therefore always keeps the same face towards us which is why it appears not to be spinning.

Answer 5

Earth's gravity dragged on the moon's rotation, and eventually, its rotation synched up with ours. So the moon has not really stopped spinning, it just keeps the same face to our planet. This happened primarily because the moon is smaller than the Earth, the moon was also dragging on our rotation too, but not by nearly as much. Most major moons actually have the same locking rotations - I believe that pluto and its moon charon are both rotation-locked so charon not only keeps the same face to pluto, but it also always appears in the same spot in the sky on pluto no matter what.

Edit: I never answered your question! I don't know exactly when the moon's orbit and rotation became tidally locked with Earth's rotation, but from what I remember, it was pretty shortly after the moon's "birth."

Answer 6

It is spinning. It spins at around the same rate it revolves thus we will see only one side of it. This is becasue of a tidal lock.

Answer 7

The moon does spin. It just so happens that it completes one rotation in the same amount of time it completes one revolution around the Earth. From our point of view, we see the same face all of the time, but from the point of view of say, the sun, it is rotating.

Answer 8

it actually does spin - but only one time every orbit it makes around the earth

Answer 9

I didn't know that it had. It's period of revolution is exactly the same as it's orbital period. If it weren't, we'd be able to see all of it as it appeared to 'spin' as it orbited the Earth.

Doug

Answer 10

It didn't! It;s just that it's rotation has become synchronised with it's orbit, so it always seems to have the same face towards earth.

Answer 11

did you see that really cool video on the moon's Libration on wiki?

just look up moon wiki.

our moon wobbles like a drunk