By Sanjeev Kumar Patro
Bhubaneswar: In the next 100 years, the living generation will miss the wonder astronomical event of total solar eclipse. And Super Moon will be a misnomer. Yes you are hearing it right. The Moon is distancing itself from earth at a more faster rate. And if the process continues and the gap widens, then complete Solar Eclipse will be get consigned into the pages of science fiction books.
As per the latest research studies, the Moon will continue to drift farther. It will move far enough that total solar eclipses, where the Moon fully covers the Sun, will no longer be possible because the Moon will appear smaller in the sky.
MOON SCIENCE
As per NASA, the Moon's gravity pulls on Earth's oceans, creating tides. As Earth spins, these tidal bulges are slightly ahead of the Moon due to the planet’s faster rotation. This creates a sort of gravitational tug-of-war between Earth and the Moon. The tidal bulges pull the Moon forward in its orbit, causing the Moon to gain energy. As a result, the Moon moves into a slightly higher orbit, farther from Earth.
At the same time, Earth's rotation is slowly being affected. The friction caused by the tidal interaction gradually slows Earth's rotation, lengthening our days over millions of years.
This process has been happening for billions of years, and it's thought that billions of years ago, the Moon was much closer to Earth, and our days were shorter. In the far future, the drifting of moon away from earth to continue, but it won’t ever completely escape Earth’s gravity. The result it keep orbit the Earth. However, the super Moon may shrink to a size of cricket ball Moon.
