King tide occurring, predictable events. Tides are the movement of water across Earth's surface caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon, Sun, and the rotation of Earth which manifest in the local rise and fall of sea levels. Tides are driven by the relative positions of the Earth, Sun, Moon, land formations, and relative location on Earth. In the lunar month, the highest tides occur roughly every 14 days, at the new and full moons, when the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun are in alignment. These highest tides in the lunar cycle are
Orbit of the Moon Orbit of the Moon The Moon orbits Earth in the prograde direction and completes one revolution relative to the stars in about 27.32 days (a sidereal month) and one revolution relative to the Sun in about 29.53 days (a synodic month). Earth and the Moon orbit about their barycenter (common center of mass), which lies about from Earth's center (about of the radius of Earth). On average, the distance to the Moon is about from Earth's center, which corresponds to about 60 Earth radii. With a mean orbital velocity of 1.022 km/s (0.635 miles/s), the Moon covers a distance approximately