Question #b1ba6

1 Answer
Apr 29, 2016

The moon is in an elliptical orbit around the earth. So the distance between the earth and the moon changes periodically over time.

Explanation:

The moon travels around the earth in an orbit that has the shape of an ellipse as shown in the figure below.

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Since the earth is always near the center of the moon’s elliptical orbit, the two are at times approaching closer (or moving farther away from each other) but they never collide.