[76] Until recently, the youngest eruptions, dated by crater counting, appeared to have been only 1.2 billion years ago. The inclusions were formed during explosive eruptions on the Moon approximately 3.7 billion years ago. [73] This is thought to be due to a concentration of heat-producing elements under the crust on the near side, seen on geochemical maps obtained by Lunar Prospector's gamma-ray spectrometer, which would have caused the underlying mantle to heat up, partially melt, rise to the surface and erupt. [211] In 1994, the U.S. sent the joint Defense Department/NASA spacecraft Clementine to lunar orbit.
The moon has a diameter of 3476 km and orbits the earth at a distance of 384,400 km at a speed of 3600 km/hr.
A new video series introduces the people behind the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean-monitoring satellite. There are some puzzles: lava flows by themselves cannot explain all of the gravitational signature, and some mascons exist that are not linked to mare volcanism. The Earth and its moon could be considered twin planets compared to huge planet like Jupiter and Saturn, which are 40 or 50 times larger than their biggest moons. Moreover, given its nearness to Earth, its rich potential as a source of materials and energy, and its qualifications as a laboratory for planetary science and a place to learn how to live and work in space for extended times, the Moon remains a prime location for humankind’s first settlements beyond Earth orbit. ", "Do the five international treaties regulate military activities in outer space? Mysterious mass of moon metal discovered under lunar south pole. Because of the precession of the lunar orbit, each year different stars are occulted. [161][162], The Moon's appearance, like the Sun's, can be affected by Earth's atmosphere. The orientation of the Moon's crescent also depends on the latitude of the viewing location; an observer in the tropics can see a smile-shaped crescent Moon. The moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. Chris Culbert and Camille Alleyne explain how NASA will use commercially built and operated landers from American companies to send payloads to the surface of the Moon. [51] The rocks from the Apollo program had the same isotopic signature as rocks from Earth, differing from almost all other bodies in the Solar System. The mass of the Moon is only 1.2% the mass of the Earth. [202] An estimated 500 million people worldwide watched the transmission by the Apollo TV camera, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time. [62] Its most visible topographic feature is the giant far-side South Pole–Aitken basin, some 2,240 km (1,390 mi) in diameter, the largest crater on the Moon and the second-largest confirmed impact crater in the Solar System. [187] Shen Kuo (1031–1095) of the Song dynasty created an allegory equating the waxing and waning of the Moon to a round ball of reflective silver that, when doused with white powder and viewed from the side, would appear to be a crescent.
The first human landing on the Moon was on July 20, 1969. [263][264][265] [78] In 2014 NASA announced "widespread evidence of young lunar volcanism" at 70 irregular mare patches identified by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, some less than 50 million years old. e A neighboring shield may have helped Earth develop habitable conditions. Moon, NASA's SOFIA Discovers Water on Sunlit Surface of Moon, NASA to Announce New Science Results About Moon, Earth and Moon Once Shared a Magnetic Shield, Protecting Their Atmospheres, Celebrate Virtual International Observe the Moon Night with NASA Goddard, Take a Trip to the Moon — and an Artemis Launch — with the Artemis Moon Pod Essay Contest, International Observe the Moon Night Webinar, The Moon Is Rusting, and Researchers Want to Know Why, Houston We Have a Podcast: Moon Deliveries, Laser Beams Reflected Between Earth and Moon Boost Science, Hubble Uses Earth as a Proxy for Identifying Oxygen on Potentially Habitable Planets Around Other Stars, Spacesuits and Tools for Exploring the Moon, Radar Points to Moon Being More Metallic Than Researchers Thought, NASA Spacecraft Helps Identify Solar Radiation Patterns That Expose the Moon, NASA CubeSat Will Shine a Laser Light on the Moon's Darkest Craters. 08:24 Are black holes gaining mass faster than they're evaporating? [257] In Greco-Roman mythology, the Sun and the Moon are represented as male and female, respectively (Helios/Sol and Selene/Luna);[256] this is a development unique to the eastern Mediterranean[256] and traces of an earlier male moon god in the Greek tradition are preserved in the figure of Menelaus.[256]. This hypothesis, although not perfect, perhaps best explains the evidence. Is it a compelling answer to the Fermi Paradox? The U.S. co-launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the LCROSS impactor and follow-up observation orbiter on 18 June 2009; LCROSS completed its mission by making a planned and widely observed impact in the crater Cabeus on 9 October 2009,[222] whereas LRO is currently in operation, obtaining precise lunar altimetry and high-resolution imagery. The ~30-day month is an approximation of the lunar cycle. NASA released photos of the crater on 25 December 2011.[223]. To see what the moon's gravity is compared to the earth, divide the ratio of the masses by the ratio of the radii squared.
This is almost half the density of Earth.
Similarly, there are places that remain in permanent shadow at the bottoms of many polar craters,[101] and these "craters of eternal darkness" are extremely cold: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter measured the lowest summer temperatures in craters at the southern pole at 35 K (−238 °C; −397 °F)[140] and just 26 K (−247 °C; −413 °F) close to the winter solstice in the north polar crater Hermite. The leading theory of the Moon’s origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago, and the resulting debris from both Earth and the impactor accumulated to form our natural satellite. ", "The moon has hundreds more craters than we thought", "Topography of the Lunar Poles from Radar Interferometry: A Survey of Cold Trap Locations", "Fluxes of Fast and Epithermal Neutrons from Lunar Prospector: Evidence for Water Ice at the Lunar Poles", "Character and Spatial Distribution of OH/H2O on the Surface of the Moon Seen by M3 on Chandrayaan-1", "Direct evidence of surface exposed water ice in the lunar polar regions". 2 The Sun is much larger than the Moon but it is the vastly greater distance that gives it the same apparent size as the much closer and much smaller Moon from the perspective of Earth. The crewed Apollo program was developed in parallel; after a series of uncrewed and crewed tests of the Apollo spacecraft in Earth orbit, and spurred on by a potential Soviet lunar human landing, in 1968 Apollo 8 made the first human mission to lunar orbit.
Dust particle counts peaked during the Geminid, Quadrantid, Northern Taurid, and Omicron Centaurid meteor showers, when the Earth, and Moon, pass through comet debris. During the Apollo missions of 1969–1972, 12 American astronauts walked on the Moon and used a Lunar Roving Vehicle to travel on the surface and extend their studies of soil mechanics, meteoroids, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind. The finer regolith, the lunar soil of silicon dioxide glass, has a texture resembling snow and a scent resembling spent gunpowder. Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Also, as it evolves toward becoming a red giant, the size of the Sun, and its apparent diameter in the sky, are slowly increasing. New Book of Knowledge, Connecticut, Grolier Inc., 2001. They are characterized by a high albedo, appear optically immature (i.e. Although similar to terrestrial basalts, lunar basalts have more iron and no minerals altered by water. [77] In 2006, a study of Ina, a tiny depression in Lacus Felicitatis, found jagged, relatively dust-free features that, because of the lack of erosion by infalling debris, appeared to be only 2 million years old. Upcoming lunar missions include Russia's Luna-Glob: an uncrewed lander with a set of seismometers, and an orbiter based on its failed Martian Fobos-Grunt mission. [185][184](p227) Although the Chinese of the Han Dynasty believed the Moon to be energy equated to qi, their 'radiating influence' theory also recognized that the light of the Moon was merely a reflection of the Sun, and Jing Fang (78–37 BC) noted the sphericity of the Moon. Science Writer: [180][181], Understanding of the Moon's cycles was an early development of astronomy: by the 5th century BC, Babylonian astronomers had recorded the 18-year Saros cycle of lunar eclipses,[182] and Indian astronomers had described the Moon's monthly elongation. Dr. Lori Glaze [132], A permanent asymmetric Moon dust cloud exists around the Moon, created by small particles from comets. New research of Moon rocks, although not rejecting the Theia hypothesis, suggests that the Moon may be older than previously thought.[14]. This is thought to be because the Moon fused from two different bodies. [72] It is the largest moon in the Solar System relative to the size of its planet,[j] though Charon is larger relative to the dwarf planet Pluto, at 1/9 Pluto's mass. Both the Moon's natural prominence in the earthly sky and its regular cycle of phases as seen from Earth have provided cultural references and influences for human societies and cultures since time immemorial. The gravitational attraction that masses have for one another decreases inversely with the square of the distance of those masses from each other. [242] It is relatively nearby; astronomical seeing is not a concern; certain craters near the poles are permanently dark and cold, and thus especially useful for infrared telescopes; and radio telescopes on the far side would be shielded from the radio chatter of Earth. When exposed to solar radiation, water quickly decomposes through a process known as photodissociation and is lost to space.
The Moon has a mass of 7.4 x 10 22 kg and a radius of 1,737 km. This motion is superimposed on the much larger revolution of the Earth around the Sun at a speed of about 30 kilometres (19 mi) per second. [87], The concentration of maria on the Near Side likely reflects the substantially thicker crust of the highlands of the Far Side, which may have formed in a slow-velocity impact of a second moon of Earth a few tens of millions of years after their formation. [225] This accomplishment was followed by the first successful soft landing on the Moon by Luna 9 in 1966. Dozens of times over the last decade, NASA scientists and collaborators have launched laser beams at a reflector the size of a paperback novel orbiting the Moon.
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