Every year, the Moon quietly moves a little further away.
Every year, the Moon quietly moves a little further away from us — about three point eight centimetres. The width of your palm, roughly. It sounds trivial, but over geological time it adds up to something profound.
The culprit is tidal friction. The Moon pulls on Earth's oceans, and that constant tug is gradually slowing our planet's spin. Hundreds of millions of years ago, a day on Earth lasted only around twenty-two hours. Our world has been winding down ever since.
And here's where it gets wistful. As the Moon drifts outwards, it will appear smaller in our sky. Eventually, it will no longer be large enough to perfectly cover the Sun. Total solar eclipses — that rare, eerie coincidence of geometry — will simply stop happening.
We live in the one window of time when they're possible. Follow Deep Field Vault for more of the universe while we still have it.