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

Like most satellites in the universe, the Moon is completely made of solid rock. It is lifeless and all covered with scars in the form of numerous craters, indicating a huge number of cosmic collisions in those days when the young Solar system has not yet acquired stability and orderliness. The rotation of the Moon around the Earth is one of the key factors in the birth and development of life on our blue ball.

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

But to test this hypothesis was possible only in 1969, when astronauts, participating in the Apollo program, brought samples of the rock from the Moon. After analyzing the stones, the scientists were simply amazed - they were identical to the rock, which is extremely common on our planet. And they were overheated, which fully confirmed the theory of the collision, which was firstly met with cold in the scientific community.

About four and a half billion years ago, the solar system was an unimaginably chaotic and extreme place. The earth was one of hundreds of planets orbiting a young star. All these objects collided with each other, and only the largest of them survived. The earth was lucky - it was sufficient for survival size. And I even got my own companion.

When the Moon began to rotate around the Earth, it was only twenty-four thousand kilometers from our planet. If you could see the sky five hundred million years after the formation of the Moon, it would occupy most of it. It was so close. And the speed of the Moon's rotation around the Earth was then quite different, however, like our ball itself, then not the former blue.

Now it's hard to believe, but then the speed of our planet's circulation was so huge that the day lasted only six hours. The proximity of the moon in combination with its gravity played the role of a kind of brake. So twenty-four hours appeared in the earth's day. 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.

But this is not the only mutual influence of this heavenly tandem. The moon's gravity also creates giant tides all over the planet that shake the seas, mix minerals and nutrients. This "lunar effect" created something like a "primary broth", from which later the first forms of life appeared on our planet. Without the influence of the moon, life on Earth could not have arisen ...

Now our natural satellite rotates around the Earth in an ordered elliptical orbit. For many centuries people have been watching a constantly diminishing 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 per year. While the gravitational balance firmly holds the satellite in orbit. But it is not excluded, and such an option that once the moon will become an independent heavenly object.