Mar,1, 2012 Vol. 47
issue 3
Astronomy 101 This week’s topic is the Moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Inside------- Fun Moon Facts----- A crossword puzzle-----and amazing pictures!!!!!!!
Table Of Contents How the moon was formed ………………………....2 Composition…………………………………………….3 Size and distance from Earth………………………4 Moon Phases and Moon orbit…………..……………5 Effects the moon has on Earth……………………..6 Moon Timeline Missions………………………………7
INCLUDES! Timeline of Missions to the MOON! Moon FUN FACTS! AND a crossword puzzle!
Formation! The prevailing theory today is that the Earth-Moon system formed as a result of a giant impact! There are other theories as to how it was formed. Such as The Fission Hypothesis, the belief that the Earth spun so fast that a portion of the crust broke off to form the moon!
The Capture Hypothesis stated that the Moon came from a part of the universe with little iron, strayed near Earth’s gravitational field, and was drawn into orbit. Co-Formation Hypothesis: The Moon and Earth were formed at the same time and in the same region in the solar nebula, drawing materials from each other from the dust around them.
BUT, Most of these theories have multiple holes, and have been proved impossible by scientists.
Moon’s Composition The composition of the Moon is a bit of a mystery. Although we know a lot about what the surface of the Moon is made of, scientists can only guess at what the internal composition of the Moon is. Here’s what we think the Moon is made of.
Moon’s size and distance from Earth !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The size of the moon is way smaller than the size of the Earth. The Moon is approximately 1/4 of Earth's diameter, 1/80th of Earth's mass and 1/50th of Earth's volume.
Also we are very far away from the big cheese in the sky. We are estimated a whole 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles).
Moon phases The moon phases can tell the days if you find a pattern in them. A long time ago Indians would make calendars from looking at the moon to see it’s position. Today though we have different way to read a calendar, but the moon phases stay the same. The moon phases are new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, wining gibbous, third quarter, wining crescent, and back to new!
Moon orbits!
The Moon completes its orbit around the
Earth in approximately 27.3 days (a sidereal month).
Be a star and shine
Moon effects the Earth But How?
The moon effects the earth in two ways
Its position around the earth allows it to reflect the sun's light into our night. The moon's orbit around the earth lasts about a month giving us different levels of this light. The 'new moon' has little light to offer and the 'full moon' provides us with the best lighting. The second effect comes from the moon's gravitational pull on the earth. As the earth rotates, the moon's pull causes the world's bodies of water to experience 'high tides.' At a given time there are two high tides on earth.
Moon Missions Timeline