EXPLORING MOON

Muhammad Fahd Imran Alamgir

Quick Facts
 Earth has just one moon – a rocky, cratered place, roughly a quarter the size of
Earth and an average of 238,855 miles away.
 The Moon can be seen with the naked eye most nights as it traces its 27-day
orbit around our planet.
 We only ever see one side of the Moon because as it orbits around Earth, it also
rotates on its own axis at the same speed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
 The "far side" of the Moon looks very different than the near side.
 There is no wind or air on the Moon to help “erase” craters, so the surface is
covered with the remains of old and new impacts.

This is the face of the Moon that we see from Earth

It’s no wonder that we are fascinated. The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite
and one that we can easily see most nights.
What makes the Moon glow?
The Moon does not shine with its own light. It simply reflects light coming from
the Sun.
Why does it look like the Moon is changing shape?
From Earth, it might look like the Moon is changing shape each night – from a
tiny sliver to a half moon to a full moon and back again. What’s actually happening is
that from our spot on Earth, we see different parts of the Moon lit up by the Sun as the
Moon travels in its orbit.

As the Moon travels around Earth, different parts of it are lit up by the Sun. These changes in the Moon's
appearance from our view on Earth are called moon phases. This graphic shows all eight moon phases we
see as the Moon makes a complete orbit of Earth about every four weeks. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Is there actually a “dark side" of the Moon?

No. The Moon rotates on its own axis at the same rate that it orbits around Earth.
That means we always see the same side of the Moon from our position on Earth. The
side we don't see gets just as much light, so a more accurate name for that part of the
Moon is the "far side."

How did the Moon form?

Scientists believe that the Moon formed early in the solar system’s history after
Earth and an object about the size of Mars smashed into each other. The impact sent
chunks of Earth and the impactor into space that were pulled together by gravity,
creating the Moon.
How do we study the Moon?
Even thousands of years ago, humans drew pictures to track the changes of the
Moon. Later, people used their observations of the Moon to create calendars.

Today, we study the Moon using telescopes and spacecraft. For example,
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the Moon and sending back
measurements since 2009.

The Moon is the only other planetary body that humans have visited. On July 20,
1969, NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to set foot
on the dusty surface of the Moon. Ten other American astronauts followed. They
collected hundreds of pounds of lunar soil and rock samples, conducted experiments
and installed equipment for follow-up measurements.
Moon in Depth
The regular daily and monthly rhythms of Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon, have
guided timekeepers for thousands of years. Its influence on Earth’s cycles, notably
tides, has been charted by many cultures in many ages.

Earth's moon compared to Earth

The Moon moderates Earth’s wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable
climate over billions of years. From Earth, we always see the same face of the Moon
because the Moon is spinning on its axis at the same speed that it is going around
Earth (that is, it is in synchronous rotation with Earth).

Lunar Terrain
The light areas of the Moon are known as the highlands. The dark features,
called maria (Latin for seas), are impact basins that were filled with lava between 4.2
and 1.2 billion years ago. These light and dark areas represent rocks of different
composition and ages, which provide evidence for how the early crust may have
crystallized from a lunar magma ocean. The craters themselves, which have been
preserved for billions of years, provide an impact history for the Moon and other bodies
in the inner solar system.
Lunar Origins
The leading theory of the Moon’s origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with
Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago, and the resulting debris from both Earth and
the impactor accumulated to form our natural satellite. The newly formed Moon was in a
molten state. Within about 100 million years, most of the global “magma ocean” had
crystallized, with less-dense rocks floating upward and eventually forming the lunar
crust.

Nearly the entire Moon is covered by a rubble pile of charcoal-gray, powdery dust
and rocky debris called the lunar regolith. Beneath is a region of fractured bedrock
referred to as the mega regolith.

Exploration
The Moon was first visited by the Soviet Union’s uncrewed Luna 1 and 2 in 1959,
and, as of April 2019, seven nations have followed.

The first human landing on the Moon was on July 20, 1969. During the Apollo
missions of 1969–1972, 12 American astronauts walked on the Moon and used a Lunar
Roving Vehicle to travel on the surface and extend their studies of soil mechanics,
meteoroids, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind. The Apollo astronauts
brought back 382 kilograms (842 pounds) of rock and soil to Earth for study.

After a long hiatus, lunar exploration resumed in the 1990s with the U.S. robotic
missions Clementine and Lunar Prospector. Results from both missions suggested that
water ice might be present at the lunar poles, but a controlled impact of the Prospector
spacecraft produced no observable water. In 2012, the Gravity Recovery and Interior
Laboratory (GRAIL) twin spacecraft studied the Moon’s gravity field and produced the
highest-resolution gravity field map of any celestial body.

The European Space Agency, Japan, China and India all have sent missions to
explore the Moon. China has landed two rovers on the surface, including the first-ever
landing on Moon's far side in 2019. In another first, a private company from Israel sent a
spacecraft to land on the Moon in April 2019. Israel's Beresheet successfully orbited the
Moon, but was lost during a landing attempt.
Inside the Moon

The Passive Seismic Experiment was the first seismometer placed on the Moon’s surface. It allowed
scientists to learn about the internal structure of the Moon.

The Moon is a differentiated world. The heaviest materials have sunken down
into the Moon’s center, and the lightest materials have risen to the outermost layer.
Seismic, rotational, and gravity measurement studies have allowed us to gain insights
into the different layers within the Moon.

 At the center is the Moon’s dense, metallic core. The core is largely composed of
iron and some nickel.
 The inner core is a solid mass about 480 km in diameter. Surrounding the solid
inner core is a fluid outer core that brings the total diameter of the core to about
660 km.
 The Moon’s core is small (about 20% of the Moons diameter) as opposed to
other terrestrial worlds (like the Earth) with cores measuring closer to 50% of
their diameters.
 Above the core are the mantle and crust. Differences in compositions between
these layers tell a story of the Moon being largely, or even completely, composed
of a great ocean of magma in its very early history. As the magma ocean began
to cool, crystals began to form within the magma. Crystals of denser minerals
sank down to the bottom of the ocean. Lighter minerals, floated to the surface
to form the Moon’s crust.
 The mantle, with a thickness of roughly 1350 km is far more extensive than the
crust, which has an average thickness of about 50 km. Interestingly, the crust of the
Moon seems to be thinner on the side of the Moon facing the Earth, and thicker on the
side facing away. Researchers are still working to determine why this might be.

Seismometers left on the surface of the Moon by the Apollo astronauts have
revealed that the Moon does experience moonquakes.
Misconceptions

The moon's sometimes larger look when it is close to the horizon is an optical illusion.

1. Phases of the Moon are caused by a shadow from the Earth, clouds, or the
Earth's or Moon's rotation.
Our perspective of the Moon's sunlit appearance changes as it orbits Earth.

2. Different countries see different phases of the Moon on the same day.
Everyone sees the same phases of the Moon, but people south of the equator
who face North to see the Moon when it is high in the sky will see the
Moon upside down so that the reverse side is lit.

3. The Moon goes around the Earth in a single day.

It takes about a month for the Moon to orbit Earth (27.3 days to complete a
revolution, but 29.5 days to change from New Moon to New Moon).

4. The Moon makes its own light (the same way the Sun does).
The Moon reflects the light of the Sun, just as the planets do. In fact, the bright
part of the Moon is experiencing daytime.

5. The Moon does not rotate.

The Moon does spin on its axis, completing a rotation once every 27.3 days; the
confusion is caused because it also takes the same period to orbit the Earth, so
that it keeps the same side facing us.
6. The same half of the Moon is in darkness all the time-i.e. that there is a dark
side of the Moon.
The Moon has no side that is constantly dark; the front and back are alternately
lit as the Moon rotates. Far side is a more accurate term.

7. The Moon has no gravity; things float "up" when dropped on the Moon.
The Moon does have gravity, but because it has less mass than the Earth, it has
1/6 of Earth's gravity at its surface.

8. The Moon is only visible at night.

We frequently see the Moon in the day; the only phases of the Moon that cannot
be seen in the day are full moon (which is usually only visible at night) and the
new moon (which is not visible from Earth at all).

9. The Moon becomes larger on the horizon because it is closer to Earth.

This is an optical illusion. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or
psychologists, low-hanging moons look unnaturally large when they beam
through trees, building or other foreground objects.
Moon and Eclipses
After the sun, the most noticeable celestial object is the moon. Its motions, phases, and
occasional eclipses add delightful variety to our sky. It's also the closest astronomical
object by far.

The Moon's Motions

The moon's motion through our sky is similar to that of the sun, but different:
 Like the sun, the moon rises in the east and sets in the west.
 Like the sun, the moon doesn't move across our sky quite as fast as the stars do.
 You can easily notice the moon's motion, with respect to the stars, during a
single night.
 This means that the moon rises later and later each successive day, sometimes
rising in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and sometimes at night.
Similarly, the moon sets later each day, and can set at any time of the day or
night.
 At a rate of 12 degrees per day, the moon completes a full circle, with respect to
the sun, about once every 30 days (actually 29.5). This time period was originally
called one month (guess where the word comes from), although our modern
calendar is not directly tied to the moon and defines different months to have
different lengths.
 The moon is always seen near the ecliptic, but its motion carries it about five
degrees to either side during the course of each month.

The Moon's Phases

Besides moving around the sky, the moon is famous for its phases: its variety of
apparent shapes, from crescent to half to gibbous to full. There is also a "new" phase,
when we don't see the moon at all for a few days. What causes these striking changes
in the moon's appearance?
Here are some big clues:
 First, the moon goes through its complete cycle of phases exactly once each
(lunar) month, that is, in the same time period as its motion with respect to the
sun.
 Second, the moon's phase is always new when it is near the sun in our sky,
and full when it is opposite the sun, with intermediate phases at intermediate
angles (between the moon and sun).
  Third, when the moon is in its crescent phase and the sky is sufficiently dark, you
can sometimes make out the rest of the moon's dimly lit disk. This tells us that
the moon isn't really changing shape; part of it is merely much brighter than the
rest.
 Finally, at any phase between new and full, you can check that the illuminated
side of the moon is always the side that's facing toward the sun.
The simple explanation of all these observations is that the moon shines by reflected
sunlight. It's spherical in shape, with half of the sphere illuminated by the sun at any
given time. How much of this half we see, however, depends on our viewing direction.
When the moon and sun are near each other in our sky, we're looking at the moon's
dark side so we don't see it at all ("new moon"). When the moon is opposite the sun in
our sky, we're looking at the moon's illuminated side so we see a full moon. At other
angles we see part, but not all, of the moon's illuminated side. The illustration below
shows how you can simulate the moon's phases using a ball and a strong directional
light source to simulate the sun.

Simulation of moon phases using a styrofoam ball illuminated by a strong, directional light
source. The four photos were taken with different angles between the "moon" and the light
source.
The moon's new and crescent phases occur when the sun is more or less behind
the moon, from our perspective. Just looking at these phases, therefore, tells us
immediately that the moon must be closer to us than the sun. There's even a way to
estimate how much closer it is, as I'll explain below.