The Moon Our Nearest Neighbor Introduction

1. The Moon Our Nearest Neighbor Introduction

2. TheMoon O, swear not by the Moon, the inconstant Moon,That monthly changes in her circled orb,Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet: Act 2, Scene 2 The Moon

3. There is more poetry, stories, and literature written about the Moon than any other celestial object. This is also the only other celestial object that man has ever visited outside of Earth. Do you know how many men have walked on the Moon? (12) How many women? (0) Now we want to return….Why on Earth should be return to the Moon? The Moon

4. Six reasons to return to the Moon Reason 1: Why Go Back to the Moon?

5. The Moon is only 240,000 miles away (384,400 kilometers ) a mere stone's-throw in cosmic terms, and with a diameter of 2,172 miles, larger than the dwarf planet Pluto. Because the Moon is so close it moves oceans, its gravitational pull causing them to bulge in the centre, creating tides. And it moves the entire planet Earth. The Moon's gravity has twice the pull of the Sun on Earth's waters. Consider that the human body is 60% water, and next time you're out under the full Moon, see if you can feel it. The Moon

6. The Earth is 83 times more massive than the Moon. The Earth’s radius (the distance from the center of the Earth to a point on the surface) is almost 4 times greater than the Moon’s radius.  Because of these differences in mass and radius, the strength of gravity is much weaker on the surface of the Moon than on the surface of the Earth.  A person who weighs 100 pounds on the Earth weighs only 17 pounds on the Moon.  In other words, gravity on the Moon is one-sixth as strong as it is on the Earth. The Moon

7. The moon orbits the earth once every 28 days. It is tidally locked with earth and always shows the same face to earth meaning that it rotates around its axis once every 28 days. If you were in space, hovering high above the north pole, looking down upon Earth, you would observe the earth revolving about its axis (rotating) in counter-clockwise direction. The moon orbits the earth also in a counter-clockwise direction, and once each orbit, the moon revolves around its own axis, also in a counter-clockwise direction. The Moon

8. Apogee and perigee refer to the distance from the Earth to the moon. Apogee is the furthest point from the earth. Perigeeis the closest point to the earth and it is in this stage that the moon appears larger. If you were to photograph a full moon at apogee and perigee (using the same lens), here's how the two sizes would compare: Audio pronunciation for The Moon Photo: Moonconnection.com

9. The Moon Effects of Apogee and Perigee The apogee and perigee of the moon have an effect on the tides here on Earth. When the moon is at apogee, the furthest distance from the Earth, it has less gravitational pull which, along with other factors that influence the tides, can contribute to lower tides or lower variation in the high/low tide level. When the moon is at perigee, closer to the Earth, there is much more gravitational pull which contributes to the opposite effect: higher tides or greater variation in the high and low tide. Photo: Moonconnection.com

10. The Moon Week 2 Phases of the Moon

11. The lunar month is the 29.53 days it takes to go from one new moon to the next. During the lunar month, the Moon goes through all its phases. You can see the phases in the image. Just like the Earth, half of the Moon is lit by the Sun while the other half is in darkness. The phases we see result from the angle the Moon makes with the Sun as viewed from Earth. The Moon's Phases Source: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

12. At new moon, the Moon is lined up between the Earth and the Sun. We see the side of the Moon that is not being lit by the Sun (in other words, we see no Moon at all, because the brightness of the Sun outshines the dim Moon!) The Moon's Phases Source: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

13. As the Moon moves eastward away from the Sun in the sky, we see a bit more of the sunlit side of the Moon each night. The Moon waxes, or appears to grow fatter, each night. The first quarter is when half of the moon is lit, the the Moon is now one-quarter of the way through the lunar month. The Moon continues to wax. each night until we see the full sunlit face of the Moon. We call this phase the full moon. The Moon's Phases Source: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

14. During the second half of the lunar month, the Moon grows thinner each night. We call this waning. Its shape is still gibbous at this point, but grows a little thinner each night. As it reaches the three-quarter point in its month, the Moon once again shows us one side of its disc illuminated and the other side in darkness. However, the side that we saw dark at the first quarter phase is now the lit side. As it completes its journey and approaches new moon again, the Moon is a waning crescent. The Moon's Phases Source: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

15. The Phases of the Moon

16. The Moon Week 4 Geology of the Moon

17. The surface of the Moon is covered with impact craters, and large smooth areas which ancient observers named Maria, which is Latin for Seas. Now we understand that at one time they were seas, but seas of molten rock, generated from the intense heat of impacts with extremely large meteorites, billions of years ago - when the planets in the solar system were still forming. The Moon

18. The most prominent features on the Moon are featured below.

19. The Moon has no atmosphere, so the sky appears black instead of blue. Since the Moon has no atmosphere, the temperature on the Moon’s surface, from -240 degrees F during the lunar night to +240 degrees F, hot enough to boil water, during the lunar day. There is no air and in most places no water, as a result there is very little erosion occurring on the Lunar surface. Astronauts visiting the moon must take their own oxygen and water. The surface is covered in a fine dust called, "lunar regolith“. The most prominent features on the Moon…No Atmosphere

20. The moon is covered in craters. The lack of an atmosphere also leaves the Moon unprotected from the Sun’s radiation and oncoming meteors. The backside of the moon is covered in craters. The most prominent features on the Moon…Craters

21. Another type of important feature on the lunar surface is the maria, the Latin word for “seas.”  These are large darkly-covered regions that to many people appear to be large seas or oceans.  But there is no liquid water anywhere on the Moon.  One of the maria, the Sea of Tranquility, is where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the Moon.  The Moon’s maria can be seen without a telescope.  It turns out there are no maria on the Moon’s far side, the side that always faces away from the Earth. The most prominent features on the Moon…Marias

22. In addition to craters and maria, the lunar surface includes bright regions that resemble dry-land continents on the Earth.  These regions have much higher elevation than the maria (several kilometers higher), so they are called highlands.  Most of the Moon’s craters are in the highland regions.  The highlands are much brighter than the maria because they are composed of different kinds of rocks. The most prominent features on the Moon…Highlands

23. The most prominent features on the Moon are featured below.

24. The surface of the Moon is covered with impact craters, and large smooth areas which ancient observers named Maria, which is Latin for Seas. Now we understand that at one time they were seas, but seas of molten rock, generated from the intense heat of impacts with extremely large meteorites, billions of years ago - when the planets in the solar system were still forming. The Moon

25. As seen in the photo, the Moon can sometimes look like a man's face, with the Sea of Serenity (Mare Serenitatis) and the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis) composing a pair of large, close set eyes, the Sea of Vapours (Mare Vaporum) forming the bridge of a long nose, and the Sea of Clouds (Mare Nubium) looking like a mouth wide open in surprise, or laughter. . The Moon

26. Other people and cultures see different things in the Moon. . The Moon

27. What do you see when you look at the Moon?

28. Inside the Moon VS. Both the Earth and the Moon have a Crust, and Mantle, and a Core. The main difference is the Earth has an atmosphere (air) where the Moon does not. Also, the Moon’s core is believed to be a solid iron core as opposed to a molten core like the Earth’s.

29. Inside the Moon

30. The Moon Supplemental Mission The Apollo Missions & more

31. On July 20, 1969, the human species first set foot on a celestial body other than Earth, and that body was the Moon. Over the next three years a total of twelve men would walk on the Moon. Some of them would drive dune buggies called Lunar Rovers. One of them would even hit a golf ball on the Moon. The wealth of data they brought back to Earth, including 850 pounds of Moon rocks and soil, will take generations to analyze. It was without doubt, as Neil Armstrong put it, "...a giant leap for mankind", that hasn't been matched since. The Moon

32. The 12 Moon Walkers

33. The 12 Moon Walkers

34. The 12 Moon Walkers

35. The Moon has huge craters all over the surface. As the south pole of the Moon, where no sun light ever reaches, NASA’s LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) found that within the crater is “rich useful materials, and the moon is chemically active and has a water cycle.” Oct. 21, 2010. (source: ttp://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/observation.htm The Lunar Update

36. NASA continues to use robotic missions, such as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite or LCROSS, to learn more about the moon, NASA has not sent people to the moon since 1972. The Lunar Update

37. Mexican Sky: A Study of the Cosmos… and our place within it, R. Kerk-Hecker. http://mexicanskies.com/solarsystem/moon.htm NASA Website www.nasa.gov WikiAnswers: Questions about the Moon http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_Direction_is_moons_revolution#ixzz1TWtEmKfY . Resources