"Wal" wrote in message
...

According to a TV documentary last week the

moon is very slowly moving away from us.

Does it need to be accelerating to do that?

If that is the case were is acceleration coming from?

Regards
Wal





Hello Wal!
You have chosen a neat name!

Your natural satellite, the Moon, is always in a downward plunge to Earth.
Because it is also Going Around the Earth, it has a velocity component that
would normally keep it always at about the same distance from the Earth.
Also, because your Moon's orbit is not a perfect circle, it sometimes moves
a little toward, and then a little away from the Earth.

Finally, because your Moon interacts with the Earth in a manner you call
"tidal action," there is a friction between the two orbs.
This friction has caused the Moon to lose rotation speed and to always show
the same "face" to the Earth.
And this friction is also behind the transfer of "angular momentum."
That is a term that you might want to look up.
When two bodies rotate around a common center of gravity, the larger body
loses angular momentum.
This momentum must be conserved, so it must transfer somewhere.
It transfers to the smaller body, in your case, it transfers to your Moon.

This transfer of angular momentum from your Earth to the Moon results in a
very slow increase in the diameter of the Moon's orbit around the Earth.
So, many millions of years ago the Moon rotated much faster, your Earth
rotated much faster, and the Moon orbited much closer to the Earth.

Can you imagine the beauty in seeing a much larger Moon in the sky with a
face that changes from night to night?

Nish