Moon moving away from Earth by 1.5 inch per year, days to become 25-hour long

A new study has revealed that the Earth’s celestial companion, the Moon, is moving away from the Earth at the rate of 1.5 inches per year and this could result in days getting longer by one hour.

A physicist from the Michigan State University, Dr Stephen DiKerby, has revealed that the moon, which has orbited the Earth for 4.5 billion years, is causing Earth’s rotation speed to decrease.

The revelation by the researcher in Physics and Astronomy has also explained the reason behind the 23.5 hour day nearly 70 million years ago.

In his article for The Conversation’s Curious Kids series, Dr Stephen said the effects of this drifting are minimal and by the time the day’s time shrinks, none of us will be here: “We will keep having days that last for 24 hours for millions of years.”

He wrote, “In comparison to the Moon’s distance from the Earth which is 239,000 miles, the drift distance of 3.8cm is just 0.00000001 per cent per year.”

Dr Stephen further stated that if we fast forward billions of years into the future, the moon will be visible from only one side of the Earth and it’ll stop moving away.

He added, “Earth’s rotation will slow down until it is tidally locked with the moon,” because Earth tides are strongly influenced by the moon's gravitational pull.