Page 20 - SOLAR SYSTEM

The Soler System's F'uture

96 /n the distant future,
the Mooh will look much
small er to our descehdahts.

This is because its orbit is
slowly increasing in size,

moving it away from Earth.
Every year the Moon moves
about 3.8 centimetres further
away from us.

The Moon is
T Hl9h tides on Earth are slowly spirallin9
speedin9 up the Moon, causin9 it away rrom Earth.
to ll!Ol/e turther away rrorr, Earth.

key Moon's
orbit
@ The Moon's gravity raises a
bulge OT water on l:arih
tnUC ur
• The spinning Earth drags the . w ·\\ the Moon 'o
water ahead OT the Moon
rotn ee1rth w~ trotn now?
@ The water pulls on the , ten 'leelr ·\\ the sun 'oe
Moon, speeding it up and , ' \J,Jhe1t co\our w1 1
increasing its orbit ,' . ·t swe\\s up
1 , , when. i d ot ste1r wi\\ the
, , \J,Jhe1t kin ?
. S~n tine1\\'f 't,eCO\!le

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Earth's rotation

91 The Suh is geadually
growing bigger and brighter. This
is because the amount of hydrogen
gas in the Sun is decreasing over
time. In about a billion years, it will
begin to evaporate Earth's oceans.

46