Like most satellites in the universe, the moon is entirely composed of solid rock. It is lifeless and all covered with scars in the form of numerous craters, testifying to the huge number of cosmic collisions at a time when the young solar system had not yet acquired stability and orderliness. The rotation of the moon around the earth is one of the key factors in the origin and development of life on our blue ball.
Despite the similarity of the moon with many other well-known satellites, in some ways it is unique. For a long time it was believed that the moon was formed from material left over after the birth of the earth. But in 1960, the researchers put forward a completely different theory, according to which our natural satellite was formed as a result of a grand collision of the Earth with another planet the size of Mars. According to scientists, this is how the rotation of the Moon around the Earth began.
But it was only possible to verify this hypothesis in 1969, when the astronauts participating in the Apollo program delivered rock samples from the Moon. After analyzing the stones, the scientists were simply amazed - they turned out to be identical to the rock that is extremely common on our planet. And they were overheated, which fully confirmed the theory of the collision, which at first was coldly met in the scientific community.
About four and a half billion years ago, the solar system was an unimaginably chaotic and extreme place. Earth was one of hundreds of planets orbiting a young star. All these objects collided with each other, and only the largest of them survived. Earth was lucky - it was large enough to survive. And even got its own companion.
When the moon began to rotate around the Earth, it was only twenty-four thousand kilometers from our planet. If she could look into the sky five hundred million years after the formation of the moon, it would occupy most of it. It was so close. And the speed of rotation of the Moon around the Earth was then completely different, however, like our ball itself, then not yet blue.
Now it’s hard to believe, but then the speed of our planet was so huge that the day lasted only six hours. The proximity of the moon in combination with its gravity played the role of a kind of brake. So in the earth's day appeared twenty-four hours. However, this process was mutual - under the influence of the gravitational field of our planet, the rotation of the Moon around the Earth also slowed down.
But this is not the only mutual influence of this celestial tandem. The gravity of the moon also creates gigantic tides all over the planet that shake the seas, mix minerals and nutrients. This "lunar effect" created something like a "primary broth", from which later the first life forms on our planet appeared. Without the influence of the moon, life on Earth might not have arisen ...
Now our natural satellite revolves around the Earth in an ordered elliptical orbit. For many centuries, people have been observing an ever-decreasing lunar disk. This is due to the fact that the Moon, according to the law of centrifugal force, is removed from the Earth by about five centimeters annually. While the gravitational balance holds the satellite firmly in orbit. But such an option is also possible that once the Moon becomes an independent celestial object.