[HighWheeler]

Luna is constantly leaching energy from each rotation around the Earth, and is adding distance from us every day. There will be day in the far, far future that Luna finally escapes the Earth's gravity and ventures off on its own. It will be a tiny light by the time that happens.

BTW, do you know that the Earth has a second moon? It's called Cruithne, and it has an incredible complex orbit.

[RadioAstronomer]

Luna is constantly leaching energy from each rotation around the Earth, and is adding distance from us every day. There will be day in the far, far future that Luna finally escapes the Earth's gravity and ventures off on its own. It will be a tiny light by the time that happens.

I disagree. The Earth will continue to slow down as the moon recedes and eventually the Earth and the Moon will be locked together into a mutual orbit around a common center of mass. There will be perturbations by the Sun and Jupiter; however, they should not cause the Earth/Moon system to decouple.

[anobjectivist]

I wouldn't be quick to call something with an eccentric orbit like Cruithne or pluto a planet or moon, it's really a captured object.