Moon’s Recession: Impact on Humans – IPB Lecturer Explains

Jakarta: Various speculations often arise regarding the phenomenon of the Moon slowly moving away from Earth. The speculation includes climate change and the impact on human life.
Is it true that the phenomenon of the Moon slowly moving away from Earth can have an impact on a number of things? Come on, look at the following explanation:
IPB University Geophysics and Meteorology Department lecturer, Sonni Setiawan, explained that this phenomenon is related to the shape of the Moon’s elliptical orbit, not a perfect circle.

“The effect of the Moon moving away from Earth is a consequence of the moon’s orbit of revolution towards the Earth which is in the form of an ellipse. There are times when the Moon is at its closest distance (perigee) and furthest distance (apogee) in each period of the Moon’s revolution,” explained Sonni, quoted from the ipb.ac.id page, Monday, December 9 2026.
The same thing also applies to the Earth’s orbit about the Sun. The perihelion event occurs in January and aphelion in July every year.
Sonni emphasized that this astronomical phenomenon is a natural process and does not need to cause excessive concern. Regarding the impact on humans, the effect is not direct, but through certain mechanisms on earth.
For example, ocean tides are the impact of the Moon’s gravitational force. Sea level rise due to tides can have an impact on fishing activities and coastal areas.
“The phenomenon of the Moon moving away from Earth does not have a direct impact on humans in everyday life. The impact can only be felt through other mechanisms,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, on the climate system, this phenomenon also does not have a direct impact. “It doesn’t affect the climate system directly, because the duration of the climate is years to decades,” he explained.
According to him, one of the external factors that has a greater influence on climate related to the Earth’s orientation towards the sun is fluctuations in the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit, changes in the obliquity (tilt of the axis) of the Earth’s rotation, and changes in the precession of the Earth’s rotation axis. The third fluctuation in the Earth’s orientation towards the Sun is known as the Milankovitch Cycle.
Each change in these components has a period. Changes in the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit occur every 100,000 years to 400,000 years, changes in the Earth’s obliquity occur every 41,000 years, and changes in the precession of the Earth occur every 26,000 years.
“This change in the Earth’s orientation causes changes in the solar radiation received by the Earth as the main energy source for the Earth’s climate, so that this change affects the Earth’s climate on a time scale of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years,” he explained.
In addition to changes in the Earth’s orientation towards the Sun, the constellation of planets in the solar system can change atmospheric conditions on Earth. When the planets are in a conjunction position, the resultant large gravitational force can affect the conditions of the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Planetary constellations in conjunction can cause water vapor to rise, so that the potential for cloud formation increases. Because planetary conjunctions occur on the order of hundreds of years and the effect is global, this can cause changes in the climate system,” said Sonni.
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(REN)