How long does it take for the moon to orbit the earth?
Question: How long does it take for the moon to orbit the earth?
The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.322 days (the sidereal month), as it has since our planet formed about 4.5 billion years ago. The Moon's rotation, or spin, is tidally locked with the Earth — that is, the Moon's rotation around its axis and its orbit around Earth take the same amount of time. As a result, the same side of the Moon is always facing Earth. It takes the Moon about 2.54 days (the synodic month) to completely orbit Earth. The Moon pulls on Earth, tidally bulging it by almost 10 meters (33 feet) at its nearest point, the perigee. The Moon is actually spiraling inward, but Earth's gravity has slowed this process so that the distance between the Moon and Earth remains about constant.
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