How far is the Moon from the Earth?
Because of moons elliptical orbit around the Earth, the distance changes over the course of the 27.3 days it takes to orbit the Earth but the average distance between us and the moon is 385,000 kilometres or 239,227.909 miles. Although smaller than the Earth, the moon's gravitational pull has an effect on the Earth's seas.
The Moon's orbit
The Moon takes 27.3 days to complete one revolution of the Earth. As the Moon travels in an elliptical orbit, this causes the Moons distance from the Earth to vary each month. At its closest, called perigee, the Moon is at an approximate distance of 360,000 km or 222,000 miles while at its furthest, named apogee, it is approximately 406,000 km or 252,000 miles from the Earth.
The Moon is in synchronous rotation, meaning that it keeps the same face turned toward the Earth at all times and the Moon is slowly receding from the Earth at the rate of approximately 38 millimetres per year.
Lunar and solar eclipses
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the sun as seen from the Earth. During a solar eclipse, the Moon almost perfectly covers the sun because the sun is almost 400 times bigger than the Moon but the Moon is almost 400 times closer to the Earth.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the Moon. This only occurs when the sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly aligned with the Earth in the centre.
The Moon's influence
The earth is kept in its orbit around the sun by gravity, the same force that keeps the moon rotating around the earth. All matter, even the smallest object, has a gravitational force. The heavier the object, the stronger its gravitational force.
Although the Moon is roughly a quarter of the size of the earth and 1.2% of its mass, the gravitational attraction that the moon exerts on the earth is the major cause of tides in the sea.
Lunar Effect
The lunar effect is a theory which suggests that there is a link between the lunar cycle and behaviour in human beings. The word lunacy is derived from Luna, which is the Latin for The Moon.
The most famous myth arising from this theory is the legend of the werewolf where a human transforms into a wolf or a wolf-like creature at the appearance of the full moon.
