The brightest and largest object in our night sky, the Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years. If you set a single green pea next to a U. The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It goes around the Earth at a distance of about , miles , kilometers. The Earth and Moon are tidally locked. Their rotations are so in sync we only see one side of the Moon. Humans didn't see the lunar far side until a Soviet spacecraft flew past in The Moon has a solid, rocky surface cratered and pitted from impacts by asteroids, meteorites, and comets. The Moon has a very thin and tenuous atmosphere called an exosphere. It is not breathable. More than robotic spacecraft have been launched to explore the Moon. It is the only celestial body beyond Earth — so far — visited by human beings. The Moon's weak atmosphere and its lack of liquid water cannot support life as we know it. Apollo astronauts brought back a total of pounds kilograms of lunar rocks and soil to Earth.
We always see the same side of the Moon. The Moon has a solid, rocky surface. There's no rain or wind, but there is weather. Earth's Moon is the brightest and largest object in our night sky. The Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years. The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth several billion years ago. Earth's only natural satellite is simply called "the Moon" because people didn't know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in In Latin, the Moon was called Luna, which is the main adjective for all things Moon-related: lunar.
Moon. Moon (disambiguation) - Wikipedia
Retrieved 28 October Surface gravity. Retrieved 18 September This 'fossil bulge' Moon that the Moon solidified when it orbited at half its current distance to the Earth, Moon, Moon, and that it is now too cold for its shape to restore hydrostatic equilibrium at its current orbital distance. Archived from the original on 26 October This is mainly due to its large angular diameterMoon, Moon, while the reflectance of the lunar surface is comparable to that of asphalt. Archived from the original on 21 August Giant impacts are thought to have been common in the early Solar System, Moon. Bring a Spacesuit There's no rain or wind, but there is weather. Regressing by one revolution in Retrieved Moon October Retrieved 8 September Observe the Moon. The Artemis program has advanced the farthest, and includes plans to send the first Moon to the Moon [] as well as build an international lunar space station called Lunar Gateway. Average orbital speed.
This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, Moon, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.
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- The half-moon alone on a blood red flag, allegedly conferred on the Janissaries by Emir Orhan, Moon, was much older, as is demonstrated by numerous references to Moon dating from before
- Retrieved 17 March
- If you set a single green pea next to a U.
- Near side of the Moonlunar Moon pole at top.
The Moon is Earth 's only natural satellite. It orbits at an average distance of , km , mi , about 30 times Earth's diameter. The Moon always presents the same side to Earth, because gravitational pull has locked its rotation to the planet. This results in the lunar day of The Moon's gravitational pull — and to a lesser extent the Sun 's — are the main drivers of the tides. The Moon is in geophysical terms a planetary-mass object or satellite planet. It has a mass that amounts to 1. The body of the Moon is differentiated and terrestrial , with no significant hydrosphere , atmosphere , or magnetic field. It formed 4. The lunar surface is covered in lunar dust and marked by mountains , impact craters , their ejecta , ray-like streaks and, mostly on the near side of the Moon, by dark maria "seas" , which are plains of cooled magma. These maria were formed when molten lava flowed into ancient impact basins. The Moon is, beside when passing through Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse , always illuminated by the Sun, but from Earth the visible illumination shifts during its orbit, producing the lunar phases. This is mainly due to its large angular diameter , while the reflectance of the lunar surface is comparable to that of asphalt. The apparent size is nearly the same as that of the Sun, allowing it to cover the Sun almost completely during a total solar eclipse. For humans the Moon has been an important source of inspiration and knowledge, having been crucial to cosmography , mythology, religion , art, time keeping , natural science , and spaceflight. On September 13, , the first human-made object to reach an extraterrestrial body arrived on the Moon, the Soviet Union 's Luna 2 impactor. In , the Moon became the first extraterrestrial body where soft landings and orbital insertions were achieved. On July 20, , humans for the first time landed on the Moon and any extraterrestrial body, at Mare Tranquillitatis with the lander Eagle of the United States ' Apollo 11 mission. Five more crews were sent between then and , each with two men landing on the surface.
Their shape is often accentuated Moon low albedo regions that wind between the bright swirls. Archived from the original on 25 July The Moon has an external magnetic field of less than 0. Teague, K. Bad Astronomy : Misconceptions, Moon. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. Taylor, Moon, S. These are quasi-satellites — they are not moons as they do not orbit Earth. Retrieved 11 June Moon Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Explore the Moon
This concentration is comparable with that of magma in Earth's upper mantle. In Western alchemy silver is associated with the Moon, and gold with the Sun. Retrieved 22 August Polar radius. These are quasi-satellites — they are not moons as they do not orbit Earth, Moon. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project. This illumination of different lunar areas, as viewed from Earth, Moon, produces the different lunar phases during the synodic month. New York: St. In AD, the Indian astronomer Aryabhata mentioned in his Aryabhatiya that reflected sunlight is the cause of the shining of the Moon. Retrieved 3 July Moon Retrieved 16 May The Moon may Moon blue depending on the Moon of certain particles in the air, Moon, [] such as Moon particles, [] in which case it can be called a blue moon. Outline History. This lunar timekeeping gave rise to the historically dominant, but varied, Moon, lunisolar Moon.
Bibcode : ApJ It is believed Moon some that 20—30, year old tally sticks were used to observe the phases of the Moon, keeping time using the waxing and waning of the Moon's phases. Archived from the original on 4 March With too sparse an atmosphere to impede impacts, a steady rain of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets strikes the surface of the Moon, leaving numerous craters behind. Main articles: Internal structure of the Moon and Geology of Moon Moon, Moon, Moon.
See also: Moon § Cultural representation. Retrieved 11 April Archived from the original on 24 May A partially molten layer with a thickness of 93 miles kilometers surrounds the Moon core, Moon. The U, Moon. Archived from the original on 27 October Stewart; Tompkins, Stephanie; Hawke, B. Astronauts could taste and smell the dust, calling it the "Apollo aroma". Retrieved 27 March Archived from the original on 7 May In addition, a purely psychological effect, Moon, known as the Moon illusionmakes the Moon appear Moon when close to the horizon, Moon. This has been accompanied with renewed public and critical reflection on humanity's cultural and legal relation to the celestial bodyespecially regarding colonialism[] as in the poem Moon Whitey on the Moon ". Wilhelms, Moon, D. Archived from the original PDF on 30 September Main article: Exploration of the Moon § Before spaceflight. The Moon York Times. Moon lunar missions include the Artemis program missions and Russia's first lunar mission, Luna-Glob : an uncrewed lander with a set of seismometers, Moon, and an orbiter based on its failed Martian Fobos-Grunt mission. Archived from the original on 22 January Since prehistoric and ancient times humans have drawn the Moon and have described a range of understandings of it, having prominent importance in different cosmologiesoften exhibiting a spiritbeing a deity or an aspectparticularly in astrology. During a "full moon," the hemisphere of Moon Moon we can see from Earth is fully illuminated by the Sun, Moon.
