Moon is going far away from the Earth. Will it disappear soon from night sky?

It is normal for Earthlings to expect the Moon to shine high in the night sky but what if it disappears after drifting away from the Earth?

A new study has found that the Moon is slowly moving away from the Earth and it is likely to change the relationship between the planet and its only natural satellite.

How is the drifting of the Moon impacting Earth?

According to scientists, the drifting of the Moon has been impacting the length of days on Earth, although at a very slow rate.

As the Moon continues to move away from the Earth in a span of millions of years, it is making an average day's length longer.

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A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison carried out a study in which they focused on how rocks were formed 90 million years ago.

In this study, the scientists analysed the interactions of Earth with the Moon nearly 1.4 billion years ago.

It was found that the Moon is going 3.82 centimetres away from Earth every year. This will eventually lead to Earth days extending to 25 hours after 200 million years.

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Professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Stephen Meyers said, “As the moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down as they stretch their arms out.”

“One of our ambitions was to use astrochronology to tell time in the most distant past, to develop very ancient geological time scales," he added.

“We want to be able to study rocks that are billions of years old in a way that is comparable to how we study modern geologic processes," Meyers said.

(With inputs from agencies)