Yes, our moon is leaving us Each year the moon moves farther away from earth. When the moon first formed around four and a half billion years ago, it was actually ten times closer than it is today, but don’t worry. The rate at which it’s going away is one and a half inches (3.8 centimeters) per year. Scientists have measured the retreat of the moon by beaming lasers at it, and sadly 600 million years from now we will lose our view of total solar eclipses. The moon won’t be able to block the sun’s light and cast its shadow onto the earth, but a few billion years after that the sun will derail the moon entirely, and earth too, when it runs out of fuel, becomes a red giant and engulfs the inner solar system in an epic star death.