The Moon is a constant in the night sky, but all is not actually as it seems. It turns out that scientists have discovered the Moon is drifting away from Earth, and it’s changing everything we thought we knew about our planet’s relationship with its only natural satellite. It’s also having a very real impact on the length of days on our planet – albeit at an incredibly slow rate. By moving away from Earth over the course of millions of years, the Moon is simultaneously making the length of the average day longer. A study by a team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison focused on rock from a formation aged at 90 million years. By doing so, they were able to analyse the Earth’s interactions with the Moon 1.4 billion years ago. It turns out that the Moon is moving away from Earth at us at 3.82 centimetres a year. That means that, eventually, it’ll result in Earth days lasting 25 hours in 200 million years time. Stephen Meyers, who is a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: “As the moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down as they stretch their arms out.” He added: “One of our ambitions was to use astrochronology to tell time in the most distant past, to develop very ancient geological time scales. “We want to be able to study rocks that are billions of years old in a way that is comparable to how we study modern geologic processes.” It’s not the only story that changes our understanding of the Moon recently. Scientists have also just uncovered billions of years’ worth of secrets buried beneath the surface of the moon – all thanks to China’s space programme, which has uncovered hidden structures which can help us start to piece together the Moon’s past. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

It may only be September with 112 days to go until Christmas – but it seems Mariah Carey is defrosting early, with 'All I Want For Christmas' sneaking its way into the charts. A fan page on X/Twitter highlighted some stats that claimed the hit single received 316,000 Spotify streams on 1 September – a 75 per cent increase "compared to the same day in 2022". Carey soon responded to the tweet, passionately writing: "Not yet!!!!" She continued: "I'll allow it for my Filipino lambs though! (I don't make the rules!) The star was referencing the Philippines tradition in which Christmas starts as soon as the year hits the 'BER' months (September, October, November, and December.) "Every year, from the 1st of September, decorations will be put up around the country and the festivities will begin. You'll even start to hear Christmas songs in all the malls, restaurants and on the radio," Travel Continuously explained. Eager fans flooded Carey's tweet, with one writing: "This is my alarm song every day of the year. Say something!" "She’s the mother of Christmas," another added, while a third shared: "We haven't even celebrated HALLOWEEN yet, people!! Slow down before we get to Mariah Carey Season." The 1994 single may be a hit solely for Christmas, but it is estimated to bring in around $2.5million every single yea $2.5million every single year. In fact, by 2016 it's thought that Mariah Carey had earned around $60million from the song - a figure set to be even higher now. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Director-screenwriter Frank Darabont wanted to bring Stephen King’s ‘The Mist’ to the big screen for years.

Damien Chazelle paid a moving tribute to the late William Friedkin - who died last month aged 87 - at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday (03.09.23).

Niall Horan performed 'Nothing Compares 2 U' in honour of fellow Irish star Sinead O'Connor.

Michel Franco insisted it was a "no-brainer" to cast Jessica Chastain in 'Memory' because she is the "best actress in the world".

The Reggae legends will tour the UK next April.

Metallica will now play State Farm Stadium on Saturday, September 9.

The European Union’s planned metric for showing which banks have the greenest balance sheets won’t reflect their efforts

Playboi Carti will now tour the US in January and February.

Investors in sovereign bonds are mispricing a growing risk that has the potential to trigger downgrades, according to

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 4, 2023--