We live in a remarkable time.
The Moon is moving away from the Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year. That means that in 600 million years, there won’t be any more solar eclipses. What a bummer.
This may seem unimportant since humans won’t probably be around in 600 million years. But it reminds us of something important. We have total eclipses right now because the Moon is the perfect distance from both the Earth and the Sun.
If the Moon is moving away from us, then in the past, it was much closer. When there was an eclipse back then, the Moon would have covered the Sun completely, and the sky would have gone dark without anything to study.
Imagine our earliest ancestors a million years ago, watching the sky go dark and the Sun completely disappearing. That must have been distressing. We are lucky that we live today and can experience the Moon covering the Sun just enough so scientists can learn from the event.
Like I said, none of us are concerned with what will happen 600 million years from now, but for the planet, it’s hardly anything. Think of it this way, To the Earth, 600 million years is the same as six years to humans. It’s not any time at all.
I wonder what our descendants will think. Hopefully, they’ll have remarkable eclipses on whatever planet or moon they live on.