Moon Has Been Slowly Moving Away from Earth Every Year
- New Scientist
Bumi dan Matahari yang dilihat dari luar angkasa.
- Getty Images
The Milankovitch cycle also influences the migration and evolution of flora and fauna, including our species. Signs of these changes can be read through cyclical changes in sedimentary rocks.
The distance between the Earth and the Moon is directly related to the frequency of one of the Milankovitch cycles, the cycle of climatic precession. This cycle arises from the motion of precession (wobble) or changes in the orientation of the Earth's axis of rotation over time.
The current cycle has a duration of 21,000 years, but this period would have been shorter in the past when the moon was closer to Earth.
"Our previous research showed that the Milankovitch cycle could be maintained in ancient iron formations in South Africa, thus supporting Trendall's theory," the researchers said.
Then, researchers used this precession signal to calculate the distance between Earth and the Moon at 2.46 billion years ago.
They found that the Moon was about 37,280 miles (60,000 kilometers) closer to Earth at the time (that distance is about 1.5 times the circumference of Earth). This would make the length of the day much shorter than it is now, roughly 17 hours instead of the current 24 hours.
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