All About The Moon

All About the Moon

By Madison Nef

Let’s keep this paper nice and simple! We all know about the basics of the moon, so I’m not even going to go into detail there… instead, let’s jump right into a good 3 pages worth of facts and weird theories about the moon!

Did you know that the dark side of the moon is a myth?
In reality, both sides of the moon have and receive the same amount of sunlight. However, only one face of the moon is ever seen from Earth. This is caused by the fact that the moon rotates around on its own axis in exactly the same time it takes to orbit the Earth, meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. The side facing away from Earth has only been seen by the human eye from spacecraft.

High and low tides on Earth are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon
There are two bulges in the Earth due to the gravitational pull that the moon exerts; one on the side facing the moon, and the other on the opposite side that faces away from the moon. The bulges move around the oceans as the Earth rotates, causing high and low tides around the globe.

The moon is currently drifting farther away from the Earth
The moon is moving approximately 3.8 centimeters away from our planet every year. It is estimated that it will continue to do so for around 50 billion years to come... By the time that happens, the moon will be taking around 47 days to orbit the Earth instead of the current 27.3 days. This will completely change the lunar cycle and possibly even the calendar.

Everything, including people, weigh less on the moon
The moon has much weaker gravity than Earth, due to its smaller mass, so you would weigh about one sixth (16.5%) of your current Earthly weight. In fact, this lack of gravity makes the normally 180 lb spacesuits weigh a mere 30 lbs, WITH astronaut inside! This is why lunar astronauts can leap and jump in the air so high. However, this makes walking a much harder process and it takes awhile to get used to the change in gravity, and one single turn around or change of direction can take a few minutes due to the clunkiness of spacesuits.

The moon has only been walked on by 12 people, all American males
The first man to set foot on the moon was Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11 mission, in 1969. Meanwhile, the last man to walk on the moon was Gene Cernan on the Apollo 17 mission, which took place in 1972. Since then, the moon has only been visited by unmanned vehicles and rovers.

The moon has no atmosphere whatsoever
This means that the surface of the Moon is unprotected from cosmic rays, meteorites and solar winds. It also means that the moon has wide temperature variations. The lack of atmosphere means no sound can be heard on the moon, and the sky always appears black.

The moon, much like Earth, has quakes
These “moonquakes” are caused by the gravitational pull of the Earth. Lunar astronauts used seismographs on their visits to the moon, and found that small moonquakes occurred several kilometers beneath the surface, which is what is causing ruptures and cracks. Due to this fact, scientists think the moon has a molten core, similar to Earth’s.

The first spacecraft to reach the moon was Luna 1 in 1959
The Luna 1 was a Soviet craft, which was launched from the USSR. It passed within 5995 kilometers of the surface of the moon before getting sent into orbit around the sun.

The moon is the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System.
At 3,475 km in diameter, the noon is far smaller than the major moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Earth is 80 times the volume of the moon, but the two are the same age. This suggests that they were created at the same time. A well-known theory is that the moon was once a part of the Earth, and was formed from a chunk of Earth that broke away due to a planetary or meteorite collision early in history when the planet was young.

The moon will be visited in the near future
NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon to set up a permanent space station. The plans are still being formed; but if all goes as planned, man may be able to make extended visits to the moon by the year 2019.

Now that we’ve gotten through some of the boring scientific facts… how about some more amusing and quirky facts about the moon? Let’s start off with the fact that when adults in 1988 were surveyed, 13% of them believed that the moon was made of cheese. THIRTEEN PERCENT! That’s more terrifying than the fact that some believe the moon is a space station, due to the fact that it rings when hit with meteorites and is a mobile moon. Also, it is technically much too large in comparison to the Earth to be TRULY considered a moon- other planets have much smaller moons compared to ours.

With that opening- here are some smaller fun facts to toss at your friends.

·        When Alan Sheppard was on the moon, he hit a golf ball and drove it 2,400 feet, nearly one half mile. On Earth this may not have been quite as amazing, but was remarkable due to the lack of gravity on the moon.

·        When footprints are made in moon dust, they can stay there for an extremely long time. There is no wind current on the moon, so nothing can disturb the footprints. Indeed, if not disturbed by launches and other astronauts, the first steps taken on the moon may well still be there. However, the launch of the ship likely destroyed the print, as Buzz Aldrin reportedly saw the American flag blow over… and it was much further away. Nevertheless, any footprints made by the famous astronauts undisturbed by takeoff are, in fact, there to stay.

·        Dr. Eugene Shoemaker was a geological surveyor and was responsible for educating the Apollo team about craters before their launch. He himself never made it into space; but it was always one of his dreams while he was alive. He had attempted to become an astronaut, but his offer was rejected due to medical conditions. However, when he died, his ashes were placed on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft. This craft was intentionally crashed into a crater on the moon on July 31, 1999. The mission was to discover if there was water on the moon at the time, but it also served to fulfill Dr Shoemaker's last wish. His ashes are on the moon to this day.

·        In China, the dark shadows that are on the moon are called "the toad in the moon".

Well… there you have it. 3 pages worth of odd facts about the moon. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it… I read a LOT more than what I put into this paper itself and found many of the theories to be quite interesting. I highly suggest anyone reading this to look into other theories and facts besides the ones mentioned here… there are countless things to be learned and new stuff is being found out every day.

Maddie