Future of Earth Sun. The drag from the solar atmosphere may cause the orbit of the Moon to decay. Once the orbit of the Moon closes to a distance of , it will cross the Earth's Roche limit. This means that tidal interaction with the Earth would break apart the Moon, turning it into a ring system. Most of the orbiting ring will then begin to decay, and the debris will impact the Earth. Hence, even if the Earth is not swallowed up by the Sun, the planet may be left moonless. The ablation and vaporization caused by its fall on a decaying
Geostationary ring km below GEO to 75 km above GEO and from -15 degrees to 15 degrees declination. Geostationary ring The geostationary ring is a volume segment around the geostationary orbit defined by variations in altitude and declination that can occur for uncontrolled objects left in the geostationary orbit. The geostationary orbit is subject to orbit perturbations caused by anomalies in the gravitational field of the Earth, by the gravitational effects of Sun and Moon, and by solar radiation pressure. A precessional motion of the orbit plane is caused by the oblatedness of the Earth (formula_1), and the gravitational effects of Sun