Why does the moon orbit earth instead of the sun?
The moon orbits the Earth, which orbits the sun. So in a way the moon orbits both the Earth and the sun. In physics an orbit is not necessarily circular or elliptical in shape. The orbit of the moon around the sun is complicated as it is no longer a two body problem i.e. Along with the moon and the sun’s gravity we will have to include the gravity of the Earth as well. The moon’s mass is pretty small as compared to both the Earth and the sun. However it is much closer to the Earth than the sun. Hence it is more influenced by the gravity of the Earth than the sun’s.
