Gravitational Forces the Moon and Sun Exert (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Gravitational Forces the Moon and Sun Exert

Caption

The gravitational forces the moon and sun exert are responsible for Earth's rising and falling tides. Earth's gravity also exerts forces on the Moon in the form of solid body tides that distort its shape. The Moon is slowly receding away from Earth and forces build as the moon's tidal distortion diminishes with distance and its rotation period slows with time. These tidal forces combined with the shrinking of the moon from cooling of its interior have influenced the pattern of orientations in the network of young fault scarps.

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Credits: NASA/LRO

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