Table of Contents
Table of Contents Moon Facts…………………………………………………………………………………………….…pg 3 How the Moon was Formed……………………………………………………………………..pg 4 Composition……………………………………………………………………………………………..pg 5 Size of the moon………………………………………………………….……………………………pg 6 Distance from Earth…………………………………………………………………………………..pg 6 Phases of the Moon……………………………………………………………………………………pg 7 Orbit…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..pg 8 Effects on the Earth……………………………………………………………………………………pg 9 Missions to the Moon……………………………………………………………………………...pg 10-12
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Moon Facts The multi layer space suits worn by the astronauts to the moon weighed 180 pounds on earth, but thirty pounds on the moon due to the lower gravity. The moon is not a planet, but a satellite of the Earth. The surface area of the moon is 14,658,000 square miles or 9.4 billion acres The moon rotates at 10 miles per hour compared to the earth's rotation of 1000 miles per hour. The dark spots we see on the moon that create the image of the man in the moon are actually craters filled with basalt, which is a very dense material. The moon has no global magnetic field. The moon is about 1/4 the size of the Earth. The moon, the Earth's only natural satellite, is about 238,900 miles away from Earth. It is the brightest light in the night sky, yet it does not give off its own light, but reflects the sunlight.
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How the Moon was Formed Although no one can say for sure exactly how our moon came to be, there a few hypothesis and theories of which the ‘the giant impact theory’ is the most compelling and widely accepted. In this theory, the Earth had no moon until it was struck by a rogue planet which instantly vaporized. The impact is said to have created a cloud that reached roughly 13,700 miles or 22,000 kilometers high, where it condensed into solid particles that orbited the Earth. Over time they aggregated into larger moonlets, which eventually combined to form the moon we know today.
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Composition Space researchers have used invisible X-rays, reflecting off the surface of the moon, to find out what our nearest solar neighbor is made of and how it was formed. The research, done at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., found oxygen, magnesium, aluminum and silicon present over a large area of the Moon's surface.
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Size of the Moon The diameter of the Moon is 3,474 km. The diameter of the Earth is 12,742 km across. That means that the Moon is roughly Âź th the size of the Earth.
Distance from the Earth The average distance from Earth to the Moon is 384,403 km (238,857 miles).
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Phases of the Moon The new moon occurs when the moon is positioned between the earth and sun. At a full moon, the earth, moon, and sun are in approximate alignment, just as the new moon, but the moon is on the opposite side of the earth, so the entire sunlit part of the moon is facing us. The shadowed portion is entirely hidden from view. The first quarter and third quarter moon half moon, happen when the moon is at a 90 degree angle with respect to the earth and sun. So we are seeing exactly half of the moon illuminated and half in shadow. Once you understand those four key moon phases, the phases between should be fairly easy to visualize, as the illuminated portion gradually transitions between them. An easy way to remember and understand those between lunar phase names is by breaking out and defining 4 words: crescent, gibbous,
waxing, and waning. The word crescent refers to the phases where the moon is less than half illuminated. The word gibbous refers to phases where the moon is more than half illuminated. Waxing essentially means growing or expanding in illumination, and waning means "shrinking" or decreasing in illumination. Thus you can simply combine the two words to create the phase name, as follows: After the new moon, the sunlit portion is increasing, but less than half, so it is waxing crescent. After the first quarter, the sunlit portion is still increasing, but now it is more than half, so it is waxing gibbous. After the full moon (maximum illumination), the light continually decreases. So the waning gibbous phase occurs next. Following the third quarter is the waning crescent, which wanes until the light is completely gone -- a new moon.
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Orbit The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth with respect to the fixed stars about once every 27.3 days. However, since the Earth is moving in its orbit about the Sun at the same time, it takes slightly longer for the Moon to show the same phase to Earth, which is about 29.5 days. Unlike most satellites of other planets, the Moon orbits nearer the ecliptic plane than to the planet's equatorial plane. The Moon's orbit is subtly perturbed by the Sun and Earth in many small, complex and interacting ways. For example, the plane of the Moon's orbital motion gradually rotates, which affects other aspects of lunar motion.
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Effects on Earth There are many effects that the moon has on the earth, but the most obvious one is the ocean tides, particularly the spring tides where the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon combine to give the greatest effect. The regular rise and fall of sea level creates an unique environment in the Solar System, where life is exposed to both immersion in water and exposure to air in the space of a few hours. This interface between two distinct ecological niches is thought by many to be crucial in evolutionary terms. This is an environment in which organisms can experience the stresses and strains of an alien world before safely returning to their aquatic habitat, such changes possibly promoting the alteration and/or migration of organisms from one environment to the other. Hence the presence of the Moon to cause tides may well have sparked the spread of organisms from the sea to the land.
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Missions to the Moon October 4, 1957 - Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, is launched by the U.S.S.R., and remains in orbit until January 4, 1958. November 3, 1957 - Sputnik 2, carrying the dog Laika for 7 days in orbit, is launched by the U.S.S.R., and remains in orbit until April 13, 1958. January 31, 1958 - Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite in orbit, lifts off at Cape Canaveral using a modified ABMA-JPL Jupiter-C rocket. It carries a scientific experiment of James A. Van Allen, and discovers the Earth's radiation belt. March 5, 1958 - Explorer 2 is launched by a Jupiter-C rocket, and fails to reach orbit. March 17, 1958 - Vanguard 1 satellite is launched into orbit, and continues to transmit for 3 years. May 15, 1958 - Sputnik 3 is launched by the U.S.S.R. October 1, 1958 - N.A.S.A. is founded, taking over existing National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. October 11, 1958 - Pioneer 1, U.S. - IGY space probe, launched to a height of 70,700 miles. January 2, 1959 - Luna 1, first man-made satellite to orbit the moon, is launched by the U.S.S.R. March 3, 1959 - Pioneer 4, fourth U.S.-IGY space probe was launched by a Juno II rocket, and achieved an earthmoon trajectory, passing within 37,000 miles of the moon. It then fell into a solar orbit, becoming the first U.S. sun orbiter. September 12, 1959 - Luna 2 is launched, impacting on the moon on September 13 carrying a copy of the Soviet coat of arms, and becoming the first man-made object to hit the moon. October 4, 1959 - Luna 3 translunar satellite is launched, orbiting the moon and photographing 70 percent of the far side of the moon. April 1, 1960 - Tiros 1, the first successful weather satellite, is launched by the U.S. August 18, 1960 - Discoverer XIV launches the first U.S. camera-equipped Corona spy satellite. April 12, 1961 - Vostok 1 is launched by the U.S.S.R., carrying Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gargarin, the first man in space. He orbits the Earth once. May 5, 1961 - Mercury Freedom 7 carries Alan B. Shepard,Jr., the first U.S. Astronaut into space, in a suborbital flight. August 6, 1961 - Vostok 2 is launched by the U.S.S.R., carrying Cosmonaut Gherman Titov, the first day-long Soviet space flight. February 20, 1962 - Mercury Friendship 7 lifts off with John H. Glenn, Jr., the first American in orbit, and orbits the Earth three times. May 24, 1962 - Mercury Aurora 7 is launched with M. Scott Carpenter, making three orbits. July 10, 1962 - Telstar 1, U.S. satellite, beams the first live transatlantic telecast. December 14, 1962 - U.S. Mariner 2, the first successful planetary spacecraft, flies past Venus, and enters a solar orbit. June 16, 1963 - Vostok 6 carries Soviet Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova, the first woman in space and orbits the Earth 48 times. June, 1963 - Martin Schmidt interprets the behavior of 3C 273 - the first known quasar. July 31, 1964 - U.S. Ranger 7 relays the first close-range photographs of the Moon. March 18, 1965 - The first space walk is made from Soviet Voskhod 2 by Cosmonaut Alexei A. Leonov. Duration is 12 minutes. March 23, 1965 - First manned flight of the Gemini program, Gemini 3 carrying Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young.
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Made three orbits around the earth. March 24, 1965 - Ranger 9 transmits high-quality images of the moon, many of which were shown live in the first television spectacular about the moon. June 3, 1965 - Edward White II makes the first U.S. space walk from Gemini 4. Duration is 22 minutes. July 14, 1965 - U.S. Mariner 4 returns the first close-range images about Mars. November 16, 1965 - Soviet Venus 3 is launched, becoming the first craft to impact Venus on March 1, 1966. December 4, 1965 - Gemini 7 is launched carrying Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr., making 206 orbits around Earth and proving a trip to the Moon possible. December 15, 1965 - American astronauts Walter Schirra, Jr. and Thomas Stafford in Gemini 6 make the first space rendezvous with Gemini 7. February 3, 1966 - Soviet Luna 9 is the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon. March 1, 1966 - Soviet Venera 3 impacts on Venus, the first spacecraft to reach another planet. It fails to return data. March, 1966 - Soviet Luna 10 is the first spacecraft to orbit the moon. June 2, 1966 - Surveyor 1 is the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. August 14, 1966 - U.S. Lunar Orbiter 1 enters moon orbit, and takes the first picture of the Earth from the distance of the moon. April 23, 1967 - Soviet Soyuz 1 is launched, carrying Vladimir M. Komarov. On April 24 it crashed, killing Komarov, the first spaceflight fatality. October 18, 1967 - Venera 4 sends a descent capsule into the Venusian atmosphere, returning data about its composition. September 15, 1968 - Soviet Zond 5 is launched, the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon and return. October 11, 1968 - Apollo 7 is the first manned Apollo mission with Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and Walter Cunningham. It orbited the earth once. December 21, 1968 - Apollo 8 is launched with Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr. and William A. Anders, the first Apollo to use the Saturn V rocket, and the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon, making 10 orbits on its 6-day mission. January, 1969 - Soyuz 4 & 5 perform the first Soviet spaceship docking, transferring Cosmonauts between vehicles. July 20, 1969 - Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. make the first manned soft landing on the Moon, and the first moonwalk, using Apollo 11. July 31, 1969 - Mariner 6 returns high-resolution images of the Martian surface, concentrating on the equatorial region. August 5, 1969 - Mariner 7 returns high-resolution images of the Martian surface, concentrating on the southern hemisphere. April 11, 1970 - Apollo 13 is launched, suffering an explosion in its SM oxygen tanks. Its Moon landing is aborted, and the crew, James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert, Jr. and Fred W. Haise, Jr., return safely. September 12, 1970 - Soviet Luna 16 is launched, conducting the first successful return of lunar soil samples by an automatic spacecraft. November 17, 1970 - Luna 17 lands on the moon, with the first automatic robot, Lunokhod 1. Driven by a five-man team on earth, traveled over surface for 11 days. December 15, 1970 - Soviet Venera 7 is the first probe to soft-land on Venus, transmitting for 23 minutes. January 31, 1971 - Apollo 14 moon mission is launched by the U.S. with the legendary Alan Shepard, along with Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell on board. They land in the planned Apollo 13 site, the Fra Mauro highlands, which they explore with the help of a two-wheeled cart that permits the transport of a significantly greater quantity of lunar material than previous missions. Shepard becomes the first man to hit a golf ball on the moon. April 19, 1971 - Salyut 1 space station is launched by the U.S.S.R. It remains in orbit until May 28, 1973. May 30, 1971 - The United States launches Mariner 9, which becomes the first spacecraft to survey Mars from
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orbit. June 6, 1971 - Soyuz 11 carried Cosmonauts G.T. Dobrovolsky, V.N. Volkov, and V.I. Patsayev to Salyut 1, the first manned occupancy of an orbital station. However, on June 29, the Cosmonauts died upon Soyuz 11's reentry. July 30, 1971 - Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin drive the first moon rover. The next year, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt drives a similar rover. November 13, 1971 - American Mariner 9 (launched May 30, 1971) is the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars. Over the next year, it maps 100 percent of the Martian surface. March 2, 1972 - Pioneer 10 is launched on an Atlas/Centaur/TE364-4 towards Jupiter by the U.S., designed to familiarize alien life with humans. It returns the first close-up images of Jupiter in 1973. July 15, 1972 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to travel through the asteroid belt. December, 1972 - Scientists designate Cignus X-1 as the first probable black hole. April 5, 1973 - Pioneer 11 is launched on an Atlas/Centaur/TE364-4, flying past Jupiter in 1974, and Saturn in 1979, where it discovers new rings. May 14, 1973 - Skylab Workshop is launched by the U.S., and maintained by three crews. May 25, 1973 - First crew to Skylab, Skylab 2, are launched, repairing damage incurred to Skylab during its launch. November 3, 1973 - American Mariner 10 is launched, on the first dual-planet mission. Over the next year, it returned photographs of Venus and Mercury. May 17, 1974 - NASA launches the first Synchronous Meteorological Satellite, SMS-1. June 24, 1974 - Soviet Salyut 3, their first military space station, is launched. It remains in orbit until January 1975. December 26, 1974 - Soviet Salyut 4, civilian space station, is launched. It remains in orbit until February
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