The sun will swell until its atmosphere envelops the Earth and moon. The space through which they orbit will contain more molecules, causing a phenomenon called "gas drag."
The moon is now moving away from Earth, and its orbit is increasing. By then, it will take about 47 days to orbit the Earth. Meanwhile, Earth's spin will also have slowed to one rotation every 47 days.
Except for February? And what about Leap Year?
The moon will be the sun's first victim.
I'm not sure why I find this disturbing. Not exactly panic-inducing, but definitely disturbing. Chances are, I will not be around to witness the devastation, nor will anyone I know. But presumably, there will still be life on our planet. And I fear for them.
It is believed that Earth's moon was born about 4.5 billion years ago in a collision between Earth and another planet the size of Mars. The enormous impact threw debris into orbit around the young Earth, and from this maelstrom, the moon coalesced.
For the last few billion years, the moon's gravity has been raising tides in our oceans while the moon has been pushed away from Earth by 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) per year as our planet's rotation slows.
In other words, the gears are getting mushy. The tidal forces pulling the moon apart are stronger than the gravity holding it together. It's doomed.
The sun's mutation into a red giant is likely to ensure that the moon ends its days the way it began, as a ring of Earth-girdling debris. It will be torn to pieces.
Every crater, mountain, valley, footprint and flag will be scattered to form a Saturn-like ring of debris 23,000-miles in diameter (37,000-kilometers) above the equator. The new ring will eventually rain down onto Earth's surface.
What will artists and lovers and song writers do when there is no moon?
Update: I mentioned this information to my beloved friend, Adolf, who is 104. As I said in my post about him on his birthday in October, he is my definitive proof that senility is not mandatory.
His comment about the moon's impending doom was, "I am much more concerned about the way we humans are treating each other right now, today. We have ever more sophisticated ways to kill each other, yet there is still hunger and disease as well as war. Who cares about the moon when faced with problems such as these?"
I stand corrected. And I don't know what I will do when there is no Adolf anymore.
