Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Youpunyhumans t1_ja2dorx wrote

Reply to comment by AnthillOmbudsman in Today I Learned that the moon distances itself from the Earth by about 3,78 cm(1.49 inches) every year. by LucasOIntoxicado

They use a laser reflector that was placed on the Moon during the Apollo missions. They measure how long it takes the laser to bounce back, and from there they can determine exactly how far away it is.

19

02buddha02 t1_ja2vlvi wrote

My poor man, I'm sorry for your down votes.

27

Youpunyhumans t1_ja307b2 wrote

Ah its all good, its just useless internet points anyway. Thanks though.

31

SolarSmelter t1_ja4pzin wrote

To how important and useful you are to the dialogue for people who would like some true information, you deserve to feel good about posting that comment.

6

faxanaduu t1_ja4t8dw wrote

I guess they use the same points on the surface measuring this between length of time? Seems necessary because of changes in elevation. It's so interesting to me that it's moving away from the earth. On the scale of billions of years the distance between them seems like it has changed quite s bit. Thanks for posting this tidbit, learned something new today.

3