On 10/10/2011 8:11 AM, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:
Thus, simple instrumentation should note that the moon looks bigger, but I am not certain how much of a difference it would look as a naked-eye observation. In fact, the distance of the moon to the Earth varies by 43,592 km through its cycle: this is over 10x the difference between the 85 Ma and today. In other words, the averaged difference between the distance to the moon now and then is much less than the variation we see as part of the ordinary lunar cycle.
Which implies a 2%-ish average increase in tidal forces -- such a change would be very noticeable to insurance companies, I would imagine, but would it be a significant difference ecologically?