who discovered that the moon orbits the earth
Orbit of the Moon About 1000 BC, the Babylonians were the first human civilization known to have kept a consistent record of lunar observations. Clay tablets from that period, which have been found over the territory of present-day Iraq, are inscribed with cuneiform writing recording the times and dates of moonrises and moonsets, the stars that the Moon passed close by, and the time differences between rising and setting of both the Sun and the Moon around the time of the full moon. Babylonian astronomy discovered the three main periods of the Moon's motion and used data analysis to build lunar calendars that extended well into the future.[9] This use of detailed, systematic observations to make predictions based on experimental data may be classified as the first scientific study in human history. However, the Babylonians seem to have lacked any geometrical or physical interpretation of their data, and they could not predict future lunar eclipses (although "warnings" were issued before likely eclipse times).
Orbit of the Moon The Moon orbits Earth in the prograde direction and completes one revolution relative to the stars in about 27.322 days (a sidereal month) and one revolution relative to the Sun in about 29.530 days (a synodic month). 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. With a mean orbital velocity of 1.022 km/s (2,290 mph),[8] the Moon covers a distance approximately its diameter, or about half a degree on the celestial sphere, each hour. The Moon differs from most satellites of other planets in that its orbit is close to the ecliptic plane instead of that of its primary (in this case, the Earth's equatorial plane). The Moon's orbital plane is inclined by about 5.1° to the ecliptic plane, whereas the Moon's equatorial plane is tilted by only 1.5°.