A new animation depicts that process with ... which pushes the moon outward and makes its orbit larger. That's why researchers look to the imprints of ancient ocean tides to determine how fast ...

In one orbit of about 29.5 days ... from full moon to new moon. At the bottom right corner, the animation also tracks the boundary of sunlight falling across the moon as it rotates.

How fast light travels between Earth and the moon A second animation by O'Donoghue takes ... rotational energy via ocean tides, boosting its orbit to a greater and greater distance.) ...

The moon's gravity pulls the ocean toward itself to create the near-side bulge, but this doesn't account for the bulge on the far side. Here, follow a step-through animation that explains why ...