How does the moon orbit the earth?

The eccentric mass of each bulge exerts a small amount of gravitational attraction on the Moon, with the bulge on the side of Earth closest to the Moon pulling in a direction slightly forward along the Moon's orbit (because Earth's rotation has carried the bulge forward). read more

The Moon has a nearly circular orbit which is tilted about 5° to the plane of the Earth's orbit. Its average distance from the Earth is 384,400 km. The combination of the Moon's size and its distance from the Earth causes the Moon to appear the same size in the sky as the Sun, which is one reason we can have total solar eclipses. read more

Earth Views from the Space Station's High Definition Earth-Viewing System NASA 139 watching Live now Science - Universe - Phases of Moon - English - Duration: 8:49. read more

Earth and the Moon orbit about their barycentre (common center of mass), which lies about 4,600 km (2,900 mi) from Earth's center (about 3 / 4 of the radius of Earth). On average, the distance to the Moon is about 385,000 km (239,000 mi) from Earth's center, which corresponds to about 60 Earth radii. read more