Its extremely unusual for orbit to be circular - alah Kepler
orbits are normally elliptical! Too I am not bothering with
equinox's every 27,000 years! Then gravitational & tidal
processes - [a land-tide, estimated at about 8 inches (20 cms)
is our present slow roller-coaster] - slowed down the Moon's
SPIN until locked facing Earth, and that the Moon's ORBIT speed
somehow also decreased significantly. But continual transfer of
Earth's spin-energy (angular momentum) to the Moon, through
those same effects, now causes the Moon's ORBIT - circling the
Earth - to increase. This drives the Moon out to greater orbit
distances - at an estimated rate of 4 metres per century. Here's
some more workings-out at - Cornell.edu's Astronomy page The
Moon's orbit (its circular path around the Earth) is indeed
getting larger, at a rate of about 3.8 centimeters per year.
(The Moon's orbit has a radius of 384,000 km.) I wouldn't say
that the Moon is getting closer to the Sun, specifically, though
--it is getting farther from the Ea