<ul><li>About 620 million years ago, a day on Earth was only 22 hours long, and the Moon was at least 10,000 km closer than it is now.</li><li>A new study suggests that early Earth had lava tides instead of water tides, which accelerated the Moon's departure from Earth.</li><li>The simulation models show that the Moon's distance would have increased by 25 Earth-radii in just 10,000 to 100,000 years.</li><li>The idea of lava tides has implications for exoplanets, as planets close to their sun with lava oceans could become tidally locked much faster.</li></ul>

Early Earth's Oceans of Magma Accelerated the Moon's Departure

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