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Table of Contents Missions to the Moon Timeline - Page 2 How was the Moon Formed – Page 3 What is the moon made of – Page 4 Proof that Aliens are real – Page 5 How big is the Moon – Page 6 Phases of the Moon – Page 7 Orbit of the Moon – Page 8 The Moon’s Effects on Earth – Page 9 Postcard from Buzz Aldin and Neil Armstrong – Page 10
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Missions to the Moon Time Line
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How was the moon formed?
The prevailing hypothesis today is that the Earth–Moon system formed as a result of a giant impact: a Mars-sized body hitting the newly formed proto-Earth, blasting material into orbit around it, which accreted to form the Moon. Giant impacts are thought to have been common in the early Solar System. Computer simulations modeling a giant impact are consistent with measurements of the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system, and the small size of the lunar core; they also show that most of the Moon came from the impactor, not from the proto-Earth. More recent tests suggest more of the Moon coalesced from the Earth and not the impactor. Meteorites show that other inner Solar System bodies such as Mars and Vesta have very different oxygen and tungsten isotopic compositions to the Earth, while the Earth and Moon have near-identical isotopic compositions. Post-impact mixing of the vaporized material between the forming Earth and Moon could have equalized their isotopic compositions, although this is debated.
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Composition of the moon The moon, our neighbor in space and the earth's only natural satellite, is basically made of rock. There is a bit more to this, but that's the bottom line. The moon is composed of rock and soil, not unlike earth. And there are some similarities. But the nature of the rocks and soil over the moon isn't that well documented. We only have a few samples, and this limited supply of stuff to study originated in only a few areas - those where we landed to investigate. It isn't like we have samples from all over, as there were only a few missions to the lunar surface. The moon was formed by dust and rock that joined together to make a dustball. The dustball started to orbit around sun like any other planet but for some reason got sucked into earth's gravity and became our moon. Some scientists believe that the moon was created via a collision of another celestial body with the earth. As a result the moon's composition is similar to that of the earth's. The large size of our moon in relation to the planet is one reason for the hypothesis of collision. It is believed that the moon may have an iron core just like earth. Samples of lunar soil have revealed that it is composed of the following: 42% oxygen 21% silicon 13% iron 8% calcium 7% aluminium 6% magnesium 3% other elements
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Proof that Aliens are Re al
Many people believe that aliens are not real. On this page we have proof of real aliens. They have been featured on many motion films like Paul, ET, Cowboys vs. Aliens, and Aliens in the Attic. So they must be real.
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How Big is the Moon? The moon is a sphere that is 3,475 kilometers or 2,160 miles in diameter. For comparison, the earth is 12,750 kilometers or 7925 miles in diameter. So let’s round it off and say the earth has a diameter of 8,000 miles and the moon has a diameter of 2,000 miles. To put that into better perspective, a standard NBA size 7 basketball is 9 inches in diameter. A standard racquetball is 2.25 inches in diameter. So if you put a racquetball next to a basketball, you have a good approximation of the moon and the earth. So the moon is definitely smaller than the earth. But is is still fairly big in terms of area. A sphere that is 2,160 miles in diameter has an area of about 14.7 million square miles. All of North America (which includes Canada, the continental United States, Mexico, Alaska, etc.) is only about 10 million square miles. Brazil is a huge country at 3.3 million square miles. So you could easily fit all of North America plus Brazil onto the moon and have room left over.
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Phases of the Moon Lunar phases are the result of looking at the illuminated half of the Moon from different viewing geometries; they are not caused by the shadow of the Earth or umbra falling on the Moon's surface (this occurs only during a lunar eclipse).The Moon exhibits different phases as the relative position of the Sun, Earth and Moon changes, appearing as a full moon when the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth and as a new moon (dark moon) when they are on the same side. The phases of full moon and new moon are examples of syzygies, which occur when the Earth, Moon, and Sun lie (approximately) in a straight line. The time between two full moons (a Lunar month) is about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes) on average (hence, the concept of the time frame of an approximated month was derived). This synodic month is longer than the time it takes the Moon to make one orbit around the Earth with respect to the fixed stars (the sidereal month), which is about 27.32 days.] This difference is caused by the fact that the EarthMoon system is orbiting around the Sun at the same time the Moon is orbiting around the Earth.The actual time between two syzygies or two phases is quite variable because the orbit of the Moon is elliptic and subject to various periodic perturbations, which change the velocity of the Moon. When the moon is closer to the earth, it moves faster; when it is farther, it moves slower. The orbit of the Earth around the Sun is also elliptic, so the speed of the Earth also varies, which also affects the phases of the Moon. It might be expected that once every month when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun during a new moon, its shadow would fall on Earth causing a solar eclipse. Likewise, during every full moon one might expect the Earth's shadow to fall on the Moon, causing a lunar eclipse. Solar and lunar eclipses are not observed every month because the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted by about five degrees with respect to the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun (the plane of the ecliptic). Thus, when new and full moons occur, the Moon usually lies to the north or south of a direct line through the Earth and Sun. Although an eclipse can only occur when the Moon is either new or full, it must also be positioned very near the intersection of Earth's orbit plane about the Sun and the Moon's orbit plane about the Earth (that is, at one of its nodes). This happens about twice per year, and so there are between four and seven eclipses in a calendar year. Most of these are quite insignificant; major eclipses of the Moon or Sun are rare.
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Orbit of the Moon The Moon completes its orbit around the Earth in approximately 27.3 days (a sidereal month). The Earth and Moon orbit about their barycentre (common centre of mass), which lies about 4700 km from Earth's centre (about three quarters of the Earth's radius). On average, the Moon is at a distance of about 385000 km from the centre of the Earth, which corresponds to about 60 Earth radii. With a mean orbital velocity of 1,023 m/s, the Moon moves relative to the stars each hour by an amount roughly equal to its angular diameter, or by about 0.5째. The Moon differs from most satellites of other planets in that its orbit is close to the plane of the ecliptic, and not to the Earth's equatorial plane. The lunar orbit plane is inclined to the ecliptic by about 5.1째, whereas the Moon's spin axis is inclined by only 1.5째.
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Moons Effects on Earth Tidal Periods The gravitational attraction that the Moon exerts on Earth is the major cause of tides in the sea; the Sun has a lesser tidal influence. If the Earth possessed a global ocean of uniform depth, the Moon would act to deform both the solid earth (by a small amount) and ocean in the shape of an ellipsoid with high points directly beneath the Moon and on the opposite side of the Earth. However, as a result of the irregular coastline and varying ocean depths, this idealization is only partially realized. While the tidal flow period is generally synchronized to the Moon's orbit around Earth, its phase can vary. In some places on Earth there is only one high tide per day, though this is somewhat rare. The tidal bulges on Earth are carried ahead of the Earth–Moon axis by a small amount as a result of the Earth's rotation. This is a direct consequence of friction and the dissipation of energy as water moves over the ocean bottom and into or out of bays and estuaries. Each bulge exerts a small amount of gravitational attraction on the Moon, with the bulge closest to the Moon pulling in a direction slightly forward along the Moon's orbit, because the Earth's rotation has carried the bulge forward. The opposing bulge has the opposite effect, but the closer bulge dominates due to its comparative closer distance to the Moon. As a result, some of the Earth's rotational momentum is gradually being transferred to the Moon's orbital momentum, and this causes the Moon to slowly recede from Earth at the rate of approximately 38 millimetres per year. In keeping with the conservation of angular momentum, the Earth's rotation is gradually slowing, and the Earth's day thus lengthens by about 23 microseconds every year (excluding glacial rebound). Both figures are valid only for the current configuration of the continents. Tidal rhythmites from 620 million years ago show that over hundreds of millions of years the Moon receded at an average rate of 22 millimetres per year and the day lengthened at an average rate of 12 microseconds per year, both about half of their current values. See tidal acceleration for a more detailed description and references.
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The Moon is gradually receding from the Earth into a higher orbit, and calculations suggest that this would continue for about fifty billion years. By that time, the Earth and Moon would become caught up in what is called a "spin–orbit resonance" in which the Moon will circle the Earth in about 47 days (currently 27 days), and both Moon and Earth would rotate around their axes in the same time, always facing each other with the same side. However, the slowdown of the Earth's rotation is not occurring fast enough for the rotation to lengthen to a month before other effects change the situation: about 2.1 billion years from now, the increase of the Sun's radiation will have caused the Earth's oceans to vaporize, removing the bulk of the tidal friction and acceleration.
Postcard from Buzz Aldin and Neil Armstrong Dear Reader, It’s Buzz Aldin and Neil Armstrong from the moon. It’s quite funny feeling up here. If we weren’t connected to the space shuttle we would float off to no where. We have to eat food out of tubes it’s pretty gross. Signed, Buzz Aldin and Neil Armstrong
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