Facts about the Moon
It is in our sky every night, effects our tides and is the only celestial body man has stood upon. Yep, we’re talking about the Moon. Following are key facts about the Moon.
Facts about the Moon
Much like people refer to soda as coke, the moon has taken over the lexicon for astronomy. In truth, there is only one moon – the one in our night sky. In scientific terminology, a body orbiting a planet is a satellite. Still, we are all trained to call them moons, but keep in mind the fact ours is unique.
Despite being so close to us, we have no concrete facts regarding how the moon came to be or how it came to orbit the Earth. There are, however, two main theories. The first says the Moon was once part of the Earth, but thrown off in a violent act of some sort. The second argues the Earth suffered a major impact and the material thrown off condensed into the Moon as we now know it. Although there is no definitive answer, most scientist are leaning towards the idea the Moon was birthed following a massive impact suffered by the Earth.
Facts about the Moon:
- The Moon was formed 20 to 30 million years after the Earth.
- The Moon contains soil materials similar to the crust of the Earth.
- The Moon is 2,168 miles in diameter.
- The Moon is 238,000 miles from the Earth on average.
- The Moon and Earth both rotate counterclockwise.
- The Moon orbits the Earth once every 29.5 days.
- The Moon is moving away from the Earth at a whopping 38 millimeters a year.
- The gravity of the Moon impacts tides on Earth, often triggering mating in animals.
- The Earth drags the Moon through orbit causing the Earth’s rotation to continually slow.
- The rate of slowing is about 15 milliseconds a year.
- The Moon has no atmosphere to speak of, so the surface does not change because of winds and corrosion.
- The are so many craters on the Moon, it is impossible for a new one to find unscarred land.
- Dating of the craters reveals meteoroids bombarded the Moon approximately 3.8 billion years ago and, presumably, the Earth as well.
- In 1959, the USSR was the first country to land a probe, Luna 2, on the Moon.
- In the same year, Luna 3 of the USSR was the first to photograph the dark side of the Moon.
- In 1969, the Apollo 11 mission put the first people on the Moon.
- The first man to stand on the moon was Neil Armstrong.
- Man last stood on the Moon in December 1972.
- The end of the competitive Cold War between Soviet Russia and the U.S.A has cooled political interest in visiting the Moon.
- Japan is planning a manned lunar base.
The Earth tugs the Moon through space and the Moon, in turn, slows the orbit of our planet. Fortunately, the effect is measured in millimeters and microseconds. As these facts about the Moon show, there is no escaping the white disk in our night sky until far in the future.
