![does the moon orbit the earth does the moon orbit the earth](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NSPVkoeZfi0/hqdefault.jpg)
The long-term average duration is 29.530587981 days (29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.8016 seconds). Because of these variations in angular rate, the actual time between lunations may vary from about 29.18 to about 29.93 days. The same is so for the Moon’s orbit around the Earth. The moon formed around 4.5 billion years ago. One of the Moon’s most important effects on the Earth is its large influence over our Ocean Tides. With a lower mass, the Moon is affected by the Earth’s gravity more than the Earth is affected by the Moon. The Sun’s influence on tides is just under half as strong as the Moon’s.
#Does the moon orbit the earth plus
You have to wait 12 hours plus 25 minutes between each high tide. Thus, the angular rate is faster nearer periapsis and slower near apoapsis. The orbit of the Moon is a nearly a circular Ellipse about the Earth. The Moon’s 27-day orbit of the Earth means the times at which high and low tides occur change. Since Earth’s orbit around the Sun is elliptical and not circular, the speed of Earth’s progression around the Sun varies during the year. Thus, about 13.37 sidereal months, but about 12.37 synodic months, occur in a Gregorian year. Therefore, the synodic month takes 2.2 days longer than the sidereal month. After completing a sidereal month, the Moon must move a little further to reach the new position having the same angular distance from the Sun, appearing to move with respect to the stars since the previous month. While the Moon is orbiting the Earth, the Earth is progressing in its orbit around the Sun. This is the period of the lunar phases, because the Moon’s appearance depends on the position of the Moon with respect to the Sun as seen from the Earth. The synodic month is the average period of the Moon’s orbit with respect to the line joining the Sun and Earth. This type of month has been observed among cultures in the Middle East, India, and China in the following way: they divided the sky into 27 or 28 lunar mansions, one for each day of the month, identified by the prominent star(s) in them. The period of the Moon’s orbit as defined with respect to the celestial sphere of apparently fixed stars is known as a sidereal month because it is the time it takes the Moon to return to a similar position among the stars: 27.321661 days. Our Moon must travel a little farther in its path to make up for the added distance and complete its phase cycle. Why? In that time, as our Moon moves around Earth, the Earth also moves around the Sun. The Moon’s phases repeat every 29.5 days (this is called a sidereal month), but it’s orbit around the Earth only takes 27.3 (this is called a month). According to, it takes about 27.32 days for the Moon to orbit Earth, but 29.5 days to change from New Moon to New Moon.