Does the moon rotate?

Don't feel bad, I know about the same amount as you. If the moon doesn't rotate, why doesn't it?

circles the earth but does not rotate. only moon in our solar system with that characteristic, coincidence??

the Moon does rotate. If you stood on the Moon, the stars would rise and set, just like they do on Earth, except that a lunar day is a month long, the same as the Moon's orbital period. The Moon rotates at just the right speed so that it always keeps one face pointed toward the Earth, which seems like a pretty big coincidence, doesn't it?

Your question is very interesting because the answer is that, no, the Moon is not unique. Almost all moons in the Solar System keep one face pointed toward their planet. (The only exception we know of is Hyperion, a moon of Saturn.) This tells us it's probably not a coincidence, that there is probably a reason for this to happen, a physical process that happens to most moons to slow their rotation.

That process is called tidal friction. You probably know that the Moon's gravity affects the Earth's oceans. Well, the Earth's gravity also affects the Moon. It distorts the Moon's shape slightly, squashing it out so that it is elongated along a line that points toward the Earth. We say that the Earth raises "tidal bulges" on the Moon.


The Earth's gravity pulls on the closest tidal bulge, trying to keep it aligned with Earth. As the Moon turns, feeling the Earth's gravity, this creates friction within the Moon, slowing the Moon's rotation down until its rotation matches its orbital period exactly, a state we call tidal synchronization. In this state, the Moon's tidal bulge is always aligned with Earth, which means that the Moon always keeps one face toward Earth.

Great answer! For that you get the Super Moon badge:

:Super-Moon:

No it does not, the gravitational/magnetic forces do not allow for it. I suggest that in this case, google is probably your friend And in the case of the moon, its astronomy, not astrology.

I'm a visual learner. If you are, too, here is a good animation.

[link to www.youtube.com]

btw, that would be ASTRONOMY, not ASTROLOGY. Astrology is when some goofy lady tells you you're shy and sensitive cuz you are a Leo or something.

Pat McCrotch. Very funny. If it's old, I never heard it so it's new to me! lol

Visit:
[link to www.nasa.gov]
and you will see whats happen on the Moon!

(Just the Moon, no Bases, just Facts)

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Appreciate the reply's. Sorry for the astrology, astronomy mix up. So if the earths gravitational pull has something to do with why we only see one side of the moon, what keeps the Moon from crashing into the Earth?

Oh, man. Now you're talking about orbital mechanics. My ability to help is finis.

good luck.

And why is it the right size to exactes éclipse thé Sun. Coïncidence?

Suppose so. Are there more likely theories?

If that were the case we would see all sides of it as it orbited us. It does rotate, once per orbit. This condition is known as tidal lock.

Wrong again, most major moons in the solar system have that characteristic, including:
Phobos
Deimos
Metis
Adrastea
Amalthea
Thebe
Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto
Pan
Atlas
Prometheus
Pandora
Epimetheus
Janus
Mimas
Enceladus
Telesto
Tethys
Calypso
Dione
Rhea
Titan
Iapetus
Miranda
Ariel
Umbriel
Titania
Oberon
Proteus
Triton
Charon
It's a natural consequence of tidal forces. Likewise, the tidal force of the moon on the earth is gradually slowing our rotation. The energy lost from earth's rotation is why the moon's orbit is slowly expanding and getting farther from earth.

[link to zetatalk.com]

ZetaTalk: Centrifugal Force
Note: written on Jan 15, 1997.

Motion is not a thing, immutable, unchangeable, eternal, once born at the start, as during a big bang or whatever, never to go away. Motion is not a thing, it is a result, a reaction, and as such it changes. Human astronomers explain orbits as a balance between a straight line motion tangental to the sun and a gravity tug to the side, and assume that the forward motion is translated into a centrifugal force that never erodes as it is a thing. This looks good on paper, but examine the reality a bit closer and the contradictions and inadequacy of that argument emerge.

Each time an orbiting object corrects its straight line path due to gravity tug, its straight line path would be diminished in its intensity. Is this not the case in your all-too-familiar situation of having to put on the brakes when driving? The car is in motion along a flat plane, propelled continuously only as long as the foot is on the gas pedal. This equates to the forward or tangential motion of the planet. Should one brake simultaneously while still stepping on the gas, the car slows. This equates to the interference in the orbiting planet's tangential motion caused by gravity. Now take the foot off the pedal, and you do nothave the same forward motion as before. It was not a thing, but a reaction, and now it is a reaction to the push caused by the foot on the gas while starting from the car's state of rest.

Just so, the orbiting planet requires a continual push, from something, in order to continue to move. Left without this push, the object would steadily spiral into the sun, and humans would scarcely have had time to evolve into intelligent creatures pondering this scenario as the spiral would not take all that long! This spiral is what happens to your Earth orbiting satellites, which are often kept aloft only due to a puff now and then from the jets built into them. Left alone, they spiral to Earth, the gravity tug affecting their forward motion each instant. The gravity tug is not strictly a sideways tug, as in all cases the planet's path is pointed away from the sun, however slightly. For any given instant moment:

draw a line representing the planet's straight line path,
draw a second line representing the path the planet is being set upon by the gravity tug, essentially a second tangent to the sun,
the angle between these two lines is the degree of backward tug that the planet is experiencing.
Thus, there is erosion in the forward motion, which is not a thing but a reaction. In order to keep the planet continuously revolving, there must be a push, and a push there is. It is caused by the swirling matter in the sun's core, which creates fields of influence such as magnetic fields that affect the orbiting planets to varying degrees depending upon their composition. Why do you suppose that planets orbit all in the same direction? Is it by accident that this same pattern presents in all solar systems? Retrograde planet motion is the extreme exception, so the fact that planets invariably revolve in the same direction should be a compelling clue to anyone seeking an explanation for why planets continue to revolve.

It's stunning how incredibly wrong Nancy is on a consistent basis. I wonder if she has to deliberately try to be as wrong as she can possibly be or if that just comes naturally. Putting on the brakes when driving has nothing to do with orbiting. In fact, even driving in circles with your foot on the gas at a constant amount is not the same; the car has to deal with tons of friction as well as air resistance.

does the google work?

[link to www.zetatalk.com]

24 Hour Day and Moon Orbit

ZetaTalk written during the Feb 3, 2007 live chat.

If Earth's rotation were altered by some 4 minutes a day, the placement of the stars in the sky would be off by an equal amount each day. The Moon's rise and set times would be altered by the same amount. Within 6 months these events would be off by some 12 hours!

What makes the Moon orbit every 28 days, around the Earth, making almost precisely 13 such turns in an Earth year? The Moon does not have a liquid core, as does Earth, so its rotation is driving by fixed points on or within the frozen Moon. We have presented the reasons for the Earth's rotation as a dog chasing its tail, the motion of liquid magma, uneven in its nature, chasing places in the Universe while finding it cannot stop once it has come as close to these attractants as possible, as the motion drives it on. The Moon has no such variable. We have described the rotation of the Earth, so precisely to the second each day, as driven in the main by an attraction to points in the Sun, so those parts of the Earth are trying to face the Sun each day, only forced to part, eager lovers that they are, because of the motion of the Earth and the Sun itself. The Moon likewise is very regular, despite the erratic orbit which has the Moon swinging too far to the North between New and Full Moon and then too far to the South, lately, in response to the press from Planet X, particles flowing from Planet X that the Moon wishes to avoid. The Moon obviously has a lopsided composition, as the Face of the Moon is glued to the Earth, staring at it constantly, so those on Earth never see the drk sde of the Moon. This is interpreted by some as a rotation of the Moon, but it is not the Moon that is revolving, it is the Earth that revolves. The Moon is merely following along, glued as it is to particulars in the Earth. Were the Moon stationary, and not orbiting the Earth, it would not have a rotation. But just as the Sun has sweeping arms that propel all the planets in a counterclockwise direction around the Sun, just so the Earth has sweeping arms that propel the Moon in its direction around the Earth. Where this the only influence on the Moon, the Moon would indeed be on the wrong side of the Earth from its predicted orbit, and within 6 months time. But this is not the only influence. 13 times a year the Moon's dark side is facing outward into the Universe, in the same direction. 13 times a year the Moon is impelled from this position by the sweeping arms of the Earth, which push it along to go round the Earth until it can come back to face that same point in the Universe once again. In a stalled Earth orbit or a moving Earth orbit, these 13 times a year are clicking along, like clockwork. Where the Earth is sped up slightly, 4 minutes a day, so that at high noon it is facing the Sun, which it synchronizes to, the Moon does the opposite, slowing down slightly so it can synchronize to those points in the Universe it is attracted to. Orbits, and rotation, as we have often stated, are not controlled by Newton's laws, some motion remaining constant over the eons, they are dynamic and controlled by attraction and repulsion among the moving bodies and points beyond!

Maybe it doesn't want to. Do you rotate?
If not, why not?

Wow, so she has no concept of rotational inertia either. Is there anything, anything at all about astronomy that she actually understands?

Complete and utter bullshit. Go learn real physics and astronomy and stop falling for absolutely insane cult BS.

27.322 day rotational period

'coincidence' that word doesnt exist for me on Earth 2012..


ITS A TRICK - without Moon - no control over Earth..

Thats long before our grandpas guys - so dont worry

LOL! I didn't even notice the astrology/astronomy mixup. Shows how much I (don't) know :) BTW, your name also made me laugh.

The moon rotates on both its own axis and around the earth.

We see only one side of the moon as a result of this.

There is no "dark side of the moon." There is one side we don´t see from earth, but it is not permanently dark.

Oh, but the gravitational and magnetic forces allow us to rotate around our orbit of the sun. Hummm. Sounds like more Darwinism.

God designed and created all, and with a reason.

We'll find out when we move on from here

What moon?

The one over Bourbon Street.

this one