The moon
The Moon is Earth's nearest natural satellite. Our Moon is bigger than Planet Pluto. It can be seen clearly with your eyes. For better viewing you can use binoculars, or a telescope. Galileo in 1609 was the first to look at it through a telescope. The Moon is about 4 and a 1/2 billion years old. It is the only object in the solar system visited by humans.
Moon Facts
The moon is about one quarter the size of Earth and it has about one-sixth of the Earth's gravity. It has a black sky, has almost no atmosphere due to its weak gravity. Without an atmosphere, there is no wind, no clouds and no rain.
* Distance: Mean distance from Earth to the Moon is 384,000km (238,900 miles)
* Diameter:3,476km (2,160 miles)
* Mass: 7.35 X 1022 kg. This about one-eightieth of the Earth's mass.
* Moon's rotation: Rotates about its own axis in 27 days and 8 hours, which is about the same time it takes to orbit the earth. Hence the same face of the moon is always facing the Earth. The far side always faces away and cannot be seen from Earth. It has been photographed by spacecraft.
* Escape velocity: 2.38 km/sec
* Moon Surface: It is covered with craters, lava plains, mountains and valleys. No active volcanos.
* Temperature: Ranges from -171?C to 111?C.
* Mass: 0.012 (Earth = 1)
Phasing of our Moon
Our Moon goes through phases during the lunar month. The lunar month is the 29.53 days it takes to go from one new moon to the next. The moon phase is the shape you see which follows the same pattern every four weeks.
The shape of the moon appears to change due to the different amounts of light being reflected on it and is caused by the relative positions of the Earth, moon, and sun. At full Moon and new Moon, the Sun, Earth and Moon are lined up.
PHASES OF THE MOON:
Day 0 - New Moon is when no light is reflected so the moon appears dark because it is between our sun and the Earth and the brightness of our sun outshines the Moon.
Day 4 - Waxing Crescent is when there is a little bit of light on the moon and its illuminated surface appears to grow (wax) to full.
Day 7 - First Quarter Moon is when half of the Moon's surface is illuminated and looks like half-circle. It is is one-quarter of the way through the lunar month.
Day 10 - Waxing Gibbous is when the moon is nearly, but not full.
Day 14 - Full Moon is when it is farther away from the sun than the earth and appears as a bright, round disk.
Day 18 - Wanning Gibbous is when it wanes (grows thinner/decreases each night).
Day 22 - Last Quarter is when the moon appears as a half-circle again. The dark side in the first quarter phase is now the lit side.
Day 26 - Waning Crescent
Day 29 - New Moon is repeated each lunar month and is the start of new cycle.
Exploration Highlights:
- First photograph of the far side of the Moon was by Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft in October 1959.
- First soft landing on the Moon was by Soviet Luna 9, launched on 31st January 1966 and landed on 3rd February 1966.
- First manned flight around the moon was Apollo 8 in December 1968.
- First manned landing and walk was during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20th 1969. The first man to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong on the Apollo Mission in 1969.
- The last man on the moon was Eugene Cernan in Apollo 17 on December 1972.
Did you know?
* The main cause of the rise and fall of ocean tides is the moon's gravitational pull on the Earth.
* Regolith is the soil that covers the Moon and is composed of rock fragments and fine dust grains. The big dark spots of wide flat areas of rock are called seas or maria.
* Is the moon made of cheese? No cheese has ever been found on the moon.
* The craters on the surface were made when meteorites (space rock) hit the moon.
* There is no such thing as the "dark side of the moon". The sun shines on all sides.
Click on the links to learn more about the moon landing and other luna spacecraft.
Robotic Moon Spacecraft:
List of Moon Missions:
Lunokhod : First Moon Rover
Clementine : USA
Selene: Japan
Luna Prospector: USA
Smart-1 : First European Lunar Spacecraft. At present in orbit. Manned Moon Missions:
Project Apollo: US Moon Landing Missions
Zond L-1: Circum-Lunar Spacecraft of the 1960's and early 70's. The Project was initiated, but Aborted.
N-1 Story: Soviet's Manned Moon Program
Moon Facts
The moon is about one quarter the size of Earth and it has about one-sixth of the Earth's gravity. It has a black sky, has almost no atmosphere due to its weak gravity. Without an atmosphere, there is no wind, no clouds and no rain.
* Distance: Mean distance from Earth to the Moon is 384,000km (238,900 miles)
* Diameter:3,476km (2,160 miles)
* Mass: 7.35 X 1022 kg. This about one-eightieth of the Earth's mass.
* Moon's rotation: Rotates about its own axis in 27 days and 8 hours, which is about the same time it takes to orbit the earth. Hence the same face of the moon is always facing the Earth. The far side always faces away and cannot be seen from Earth. It has been photographed by spacecraft.
* Escape velocity: 2.38 km/sec
* Moon Surface: It is covered with craters, lava plains, mountains and valleys. No active volcanos.
* Temperature: Ranges from -171?C to 111?C.
* Mass: 0.012 (Earth = 1)
Phasing of our Moon
Our Moon goes through phases during the lunar month. The lunar month is the 29.53 days it takes to go from one new moon to the next. The moon phase is the shape you see which follows the same pattern every four weeks.
The shape of the moon appears to change due to the different amounts of light being reflected on it and is caused by the relative positions of the Earth, moon, and sun. At full Moon and new Moon, the Sun, Earth and Moon are lined up.
PHASES OF THE MOON:
Day 0 - New Moon is when no light is reflected so the moon appears dark because it is between our sun and the Earth and the brightness of our sun outshines the Moon.
Day 4 - Waxing Crescent is when there is a little bit of light on the moon and its illuminated surface appears to grow (wax) to full.
Day 7 - First Quarter Moon is when half of the Moon's surface is illuminated and looks like half-circle. It is is one-quarter of the way through the lunar month.
Day 10 - Waxing Gibbous is when the moon is nearly, but not full.
Day 14 - Full Moon is when it is farther away from the sun than the earth and appears as a bright, round disk.
Day 18 - Wanning Gibbous is when it wanes (grows thinner/decreases each night).
Day 22 - Last Quarter is when the moon appears as a half-circle again. The dark side in the first quarter phase is now the lit side.
Day 26 - Waning Crescent
Day 29 - New Moon is repeated each lunar month and is the start of new cycle.
Exploration Highlights:
- First photograph of the far side of the Moon was by Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft in October 1959.
- First soft landing on the Moon was by Soviet Luna 9, launched on 31st January 1966 and landed on 3rd February 1966.
- First manned flight around the moon was Apollo 8 in December 1968.
- First manned landing and walk was during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20th 1969. The first man to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong on the Apollo Mission in 1969.
- The last man on the moon was Eugene Cernan in Apollo 17 on December 1972.
Did you know?
* The main cause of the rise and fall of ocean tides is the moon's gravitational pull on the Earth.
* Regolith is the soil that covers the Moon and is composed of rock fragments and fine dust grains. The big dark spots of wide flat areas of rock are called seas or maria.
* Is the moon made of cheese? No cheese has ever been found on the moon.
* The craters on the surface were made when meteorites (space rock) hit the moon.
* There is no such thing as the "dark side of the moon". The sun shines on all sides.
Click on the links to learn more about the moon landing and other luna spacecraft.
Robotic Moon Spacecraft:
List of Moon Missions:
Lunokhod : First Moon Rover
Clementine : USA
Selene: Japan
Luna Prospector: USA
Smart-1 : First European Lunar Spacecraft. At present in orbit. Manned Moon Missions:
Project Apollo: US Moon Landing Missions
Zond L-1: Circum-Lunar Spacecraft of the 1960's and early 70's. The Project was initiated, but Aborted.
N-1 Story: Soviet's Manned Moon Program
