An Answer to the Question ‘Does the Moon Really Orbit the Earth?’ & an Explanation for How Both Bodies Move

In a recent episode of the PBS Digital Studios series It’s Okay To Be Smart, host Joe Hanson answers nine-year-old Ariel’s question, “Does the Moon really orbit the Earth?” and gives an explanation for how both the Moon and the Earth move through space around the Sun.

We know the Moon orbits the Earth because we can easily observe it, but according to Newton’s law of universal gravitation, the Sun has significantly more “pull” on the Moon than the Earth does. Hanson uses easy-to-understand comparisons to explain the Moon’s orbit.