The moon is decreasing....

Now more than three quarters of the moon's surface has been photographed, researchers have counted at least 3,200 'lobate thrust fault scarps' all over the satellite, mostly less than six miles long and tens of metres high. Scientists realised in 2010 that certain fractures and ridges on the moon's surface are caused by the gravitational pull of the earth on our lunar companion, but a recent study in the journal Geology included the first high-resolution images of this phenomenon.

If it wasn't for the earth, the cracks and ridges would form evenly.But because of the gravitational pull of our orbit, around the moon's equatorial region the run north-south, and closer to the poles, are formed from east to west.Red signifies higher altitude regions and blue, lower altitude. Image: NASA
The moon is a one-billion-year-old process of cooling down, and as the core gets colder, previously molten parts of its mantle solidify. The crust "wrinkles" when this happens, which causes its total area to shrink a little.