Does The Moon Really Orbit The Earth?

What holds the moon up? Moonbeams!
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↓ More info and sources below ↓

According to Newton’s law of gravitation, the sun should “pull” way harder on the moon than the Earth does. So does the moon actually orbit the Earth? Why?

Special thanks to Ariel for submitting this awesome question to our Facebook page!

Hill Spheres and lunar orbit: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/09/29/the-moon-that-went-up-a-hill-but-came-down-a-planet/#.VULLHq1Viko

True shape of moon’s orbit: http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/convex.html

Newton’s law of gravitation vs. Hill Sphere: https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=18501
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_sphere

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It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.
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Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen Inc.
Kate Eads - Associate Producer
Stephen Bohls - Editing/Motion Graphics/Animation
Katie Graham - Director of Photography
John Knudsen - Gaffer

Theme music:
“Ouroboros” by Kevin MacLeod

Other music via APM

Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks

French subtitles by Alessandro Dal Cero

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Last week’s video:
What’s The Loudest Possible Sound? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi_aawsChqA

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