The moon is round or oval. Amazing Facts About the Moon
Moon phases
On a clear, cold autumn night you go outside. The Moon had just risen, a huge round orange Moon. A few days later, you notice that the moon is no longer as round. A few more days pass - the Moon has turned into a horned moon. After two weeks, the Moon disappears altogether.
Why does the Moon change shape?
What happened? Why does the Sun always turn its round sparkling face towards us, and the Moon has phases? The moon passes them regularly every month, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing, like a balloon that is being inflated and then deflated.
In reality, of course, the Moon always remains a ball, invariably hard and rocky. What actually changes is the amount of the illuminated surface of the Moon that we can see.
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The Moon makes one revolution around its axis in almost the same time that it makes one revolution around the Earth (in 27/3 days), so the Moon almost always faces the Sun with only one side. But it is wrong to think that on one side of the moon reigns eternal night. Although slowly, the change of day and night still occurs.
Why does the moon glow?
What we call moonlight is actually sunlight, reflected by the gray rocky lunar surface. The Moon moves with the Earth around the Sun and is illuminated by the Sun. As the Moon moves, we see either a larger or smaller part of the illuminated surface of the Moon, that is, the position of the Moon in relation to the Earth is changing all the time.
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What we call the "phases" of the Moon are the angles at which we see the illuminated part of the Moon. When we see it completely, this position is called the full moon. When, after a few days, the Moon becomes “defective,” we already see part of its illuminated half (the first quarter after the full moon).
Then the Moon decreases by half, then a beautiful horned moon appears. When the completely dark half of the Moon comes into our field of vision, it seems to disappear altogether. This position is called the new moon. And indeed, after a short time we again see a silver sickle in the sky, and the illuminated half of the Moon again enters our field of vision. The moon continues to increase in size and the whole cycle repeats. If you look closely at the crescent of the new Moon, you can see the rest of it, although it looks very dark.
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Why do eclipses happen?
To see the full Moon every night, you need to launch a rocket into space and hover in it over the illuminated half of the Moon, which will be clearly visible even when it is hidden from the eyes of the inhabitants of the Earth. Planets also have phases. Scientists, looking at Mercury and Venus through a telescope, observed them in the form of horned months. When the Earth was photographed from space, it was often spacecraft conveyed space images, in which our planet also looks like a defective Moon.
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Incredible facts
Did you know that there is no such thing as full moon? Also, that there is no dark side of the moon? Surely many of the facts about the moon presented below are unknown to a large number of people.
Big hit
The moon, scientists explain, was formed as a result of a collision known as a giant impact. Here's how it happened: a giant object the size of Mars collided with the earth 4.6 billion years ago, shortly after the birth of the Sun and solar system. At first, the moon was a kind of cloud that entered orbit around the Earth. Then gradually the cloud began to cool and condense rings of small, solids, which, having united, formed the moon.
The earth contributes to the "rising" of the moon
Every day, although not at the same time, the moon rises in the east and sets in the west, just like the sun and other stars. The Moon also orbits the Earth once every 29.5 days. In the sky, this occurs as a gradual movement to the east, although this is not noticeable when observed. But this is the explanation why the moon rises every day on average 50 minutes later than the previous day. This also explains why we sometimes see the moon during the day.
The moon has no dark side
Contrary to what you've probably heard, there is no such term as " dark side" of the moon. There is, however, a side that cannot be seen from the earth. And here's why: long ago, the gravitational forces of the earth caused the moon's rotation on its axis to slow down. When the moon's rotation slowed down enough to match its orbital period ( the time it takes for the moon to circle the earth), the effect has stabilized.
So the moon rotates around the earth and around its axis always for the same amount of time, but only one part of it is visible to us.
Gravity is much weaker
The moon is approximately 27 percent the size of the earth and is less massive. The gravity on the moon is approximately 1/6 that of the earth. If you want to throw a stone on the moon, it will fall much slower than on earth. If you weigh 150 pounds on earth, you will weigh 25 pounds on the moon.
Larger and smaller "full moons"
The moon's orbit around the earth is an oval rather than a circle, so the distance from the center of the earth to the center of the moon varies depending on each orbit.
At perigee, when the moon is closest to the earth, the distance is 363,300 km; at apogee, the farthest location, the distance is 405,500 km. When the moon is waxing at its apogee, we may see a lunar disk that will be 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than at other times.
In fact, the moon is always the same size, although sometimes there are illusions that it is higher when it rises than when seen late at night.
"Tarnished" history
Craters on the moon speak of its turbulent history. Because there is almost no atmosphere and there is very little activity on the moon itself, the craters indicate the effects of an impact that happened billions of years ago. After discovering many craters on the moon, scientists concluded that the moon was subject to "heavy bombardment" about 4 billion years ago.
The moon is not round
Yes exactly. And not spherical. In fact, it is shaped like an egg. If you walk down the street and look at the moon, you will see that one of its small ends will be looking directly at you. It is also worth noting that the lunar center is not a center in geometric terms, but is located approximately 2 km away. By the way, the earth also has bulges in the middle part.
Attention! "Moonquakes"
The Apollo astronauts used a seismometer during their visit to the moon and discovered that geologically, things weren't so smooth on the planet. Small moonquakes that occur a few kilometers from the surface are thought to be caused by the gravitational pull of the earth. Sometimes tiny cracks appear above the surface and gas escapes from them. Scientists believe it is likely that the moon's core is hotter than the Earth's core and may be partially molten. However, data from NASA's Lunar Geology Survey in 1999 showed that the lunar core is very small: approximately 2-4 percent of the Earth's total mass. It is tiny compared to the Earth's core, which makes up about 30 percent of the planet's mass.
"Working" with the oceans
Tides on earth are caused mainly by the moon; the sun has little influence. Here's how it works: the moon's gravity affects earth's oceans. At the same time, the earth reacts to it with a high tide. The opposite side of the planet also experiences high tides because gravity affects land to a much greater extent than it affects water.
During full and new moons, the sun, earth and moon align in such a way that the tides are especially high. When the moon is in its first or last quarter, the tides are usually at their lowest.
As is already known, the 29.5-day orbit of the moon around the earth is not circular. When the moon is closest to the earth (at perigee), the tides are highest and are called perigee tides. It's also worth noting that some of the earth's rotational energy is stolen by the moon, causing our planet to slow down by about 1.5 milliseconds per century.
Goodbye moon!
With every second the moon moves away from us. Every year, the moon steals energy from the earth's rotation and uses it to move 4 cm above its orbit. Scientists say that when the moon first formed (4.6 billion years ago), it was 22,530 km from the earth. Now this distance is more than 450,000 km.
Meanwhile, the speed of the earth's rotation slows down - the days become longer and longer. Eventually, if this continues, an earthly day will become equal to a month. When this happens, billions of years from now, Earth's month will be significantly longer—about 40 of our present days—because the moon will continue to move backward during that time.
The moon is natural companion Earth. And, as we have already found out in the framework of the relevant thematic entries on our website, it is called natural because it has a natural origin.
Today we want to consider several more very interesting issues related to our satellite in space.
Why is the moon round?
The first question that we want to consider concerns directly the shape of this celestial body. Why is the moon round? The fact is that most of the objects known to us, located in relative proximity to the Earth, are round in shape. This is the Sun and other planets of ours solar system. And there is a completely accessible and rational explanation for why planets and satellites have a round shape.
As scientists have found out, who have had a lot of time to put forward hypotheses and prove them, most cosmic bodies, planets and satellites, have a spherical shape due to the fact that this is a consequence of the influence of gravitational forces on the particles that make up their bodies. celestial bodies.
All this happens due to the fact that all particles are attracted to the central part of the body, accumulating into an array that acquires a spherical shape over time.
However, it should be noted that the Moon is not completely round. It looks more like an ellipse.
Why are craters on the Moon round?
Another question related to our natural satellite that we wanted to consider concerns the craters present on the surface of the Moon. All of us, in cloudless weather, have the opportunity to quite clearly observe the surface of the Moon. Even without the use of telescopes, spots can be seen on the lunar crust - these are craters.
Not everyone knows about this, but craters were formed on the surface of the Moon due to the collision of the Earth's satellite with meteorites. Millions of years passed before the Moon acquired the appearance that we have the opportunity to observe today. However, why are craters round in shape? Let's look into this issue.
The fact is that, regardless of the shape of the body that crashes into the surface, the explosion from the collision with the meteorite and the wave from the impact form the shape of a frozen circle at the point of impact. Therefore, if the falling meteorite does not pass tangentially, the craters in the Moon's crust after the fall remain exclusively round. Only the sizes of the circles can differ, which are directly proportional to the size of the meteorite itself that formed the crater.
Our planet is beautiful and amazing; there is no such planet in the entire universe. In its firmament you can observe different luminaries. During the day, the sun shines brightly on the Earth, warming all living things with its rays, and at night we see how Moon shines through the windows of our houses. The moon has always been mysterious; in ancient times, people watched with fear and trepidation as it changed its face. Eclipses caused them even greater horror, when the entire Earth was plunged into complete darkness for a short time.
The moon itself cannot emit light, it reflects the light of the Sun. Why do people think that the moon is changing? The Moon is a satellite of our planet and revolves around it. We can always see the Moon only from one side, as if it were tied to the Earth with a rope. We can only see the illuminated part of the Moon. Approximately four weeks, The Moon makes its procession around the Earth. What we observe as a change in the appearance of the Moon or phase is actually a change in the illumination of the Moon as seen from the Earth. In four weeks, a complete cycle of changes in the appearance of the Moon is completed. At the beginning of the cycle, the Moon is new and it is in the same direction from us as the Sun.
The side of the Moon, which is turned towards the Earth, is dark and completely lost in the rays of the Sun; in this phase the Moon is not visible in the sky. This lunar phase is called - new moon.
The next phase has a name - the first quarter, and the Moon passes the fourth part of its path, then we see the half-illuminated disk of the Moon.
The third phase of the moon is called full moon, The Moon is on the opposite side of the Sun and we see the entire disk of the Moon illuminated by the sun's rays. The final phase is the last quarter, and the Moon's disk is also half illuminated.
To correctly determine what phase the Moon is in, you need to know one interesting rule. If its sickle looks like the bow of the letter “P”, then the Moon is growing. When its arch looks in the opposite direction and resembles the letter “C”, then the Moon is aging. This is very easy to remember and you can always determine whether the young Moon has just begun its journey or the old Moon is completing its cycle.
Sometimes you can see in the sky amazing phenomena, which are called eclipses.
Scientists call a solar eclipse the phenomenon when the disk of the Moon completely covers the Sun. It is very interesting to observe such a phenomenon, but you need to take a piece of dark glass with you, through which the eclipse will be visible in all its glory.
Another interesting sight in science is called lunar eclipse. This happens when the shadow of the Earth covers the disk of the Moon and instead of the luminous lunar disk one can see a dark circle. If the orbits of the Earth and the Moon coincided, we could observe an eclipse of the Sun at new moon and an eclipse of the Moon at full moon at each revolution. This does not happen because the plane on which the Moon's orbit is located is tilted by five degrees.
To understand how the Moon rotates, take a doll (it will be the Earth) and a car (it will be the Moon).
1) Place the doll on the table, take the car and drive it around the doll in a circle. If you were in the place of the doll, you would see only one side of the car all the time.
2) Now remove the doll and drive the car around the circle again, but watch it so that your eyes are at table level. The car made a full revolution around its axis, and you saw all its sides.
The moon glows because it reflects Sun rays. The Moon, together with the Earth, revolves around the Sun and around the Earth itself - therefore the visible part of its illuminated surface changes - from a full disk to a thin crescent, and this depends on all factors at once - both on the position of the Sun, and on the position of the Earth, and of course itself the moon, as well as from them relative position. During the new moon, we do not see the Moon at all, because it is turned towards us with its dark side. Then a thin sickle appears in the sky, it grows and turns into a crescent. Being behind the Earth (without falling into its shadow), a full disk is visible - the full moon is approaching. Then everything goes in reverse order. When the Moon is between the full moon and the new moon, it is called debilitated.
What is an eclipse?
Sometimes, as planets move around the Sun, they cast shadows on each other. The Moon, being between ours and the Earth, partially or completely covers the Sun. Its shadow falls on the Earth, and then comes solar eclipse. During a total eclipse, the sky darkens, and only the corona remains of the Sun, which can be seen through special filters. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon enters the Earth's shadow. However, the Moon does not disappear, but acquires a reddish tint, because the sun's rays scattered in the Earth's atmosphere fall on it.
Lunar crescent
If the crescent of the Moon is turned with a hump to the right and it can be turned into the letter “R” by placing a vertical stick at the tips of the “horns”, then the Moon is “R”-shaped. If the sickle has the shape of the letter “C”, then the Moon “C” is aging.
Why do we only see one side of the moon?
The Moon orbits the Earth in a counterclockwise direction, completing a full revolution in 27.3 days. It takes the same amount of time to turn around its own axis. That is why the Moon always faces us with one side, and it seems to us that it does not rotate at all. But try to observe the Moon as if from the outside.
Moon month
The period between two new moons is called a lunar month. It lasts about 29.5 days.
The side of the Moon facing the Earth is colored yellow. Having made a full revolution around the Earth, the Moon also made a full revolution around its own axis.