It is also the first (and in 2010 the only) extraterrestrial object of natural origin visited by a person. The average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 384,467 km.

The lunar landscape is peculiar and unique. The entire moon is covered with craters of various sizes - from hundreds of kilometers to a couple of millimeters. For a long time, scientists could not look at the far side of the moon, this became possible with the development of technology.

Now scientists have already created very detailed maps of both surfaces of the moon. Detailed lunar maps are compiled in order to prepare in the near future for the landing of a man on the moon, the successful location of lunar bases, telescopes, transport, the search for minerals, etc.

Name

The word moon goes back to the Proto-Slavic form *luna< и.-е. *louksnā́ «светлая» (ж. р. прилагательного *louksnós), к этой же индоевропейской форме восходит и латинское слово lūna «луна». Греки называли спутник Земли Селеной (греч. Σελήνη), древние египтяне - Ях (Иях). На всех тюркских (кроме чувашского) языках луна будет «ай».

Moon movement

As a first approximation, we can assume that the Moon moves in an elliptical orbit with an eccentricity of 0.0549 and a semi-major axis of 384,399 km. The actual motion of the Moon is quite complex, and many factors must be taken into account when calculating it, for example, the oblateness of the Earth and the strong influence of the Sun, which attracts the Moon 2.2 times stronger than the Earth. More precisely, the movement of the Moon around the Earth can be represented as a combination of several movements:

Rotation around in an elliptical orbit with a period of 27.32 days;
precession (rotation of the plane) of the lunar orbit with a period of 18.6 years (see also saros);
rotation of the major axis of the lunar orbit (lines of apsides) with a period of 8.8 years;
periodic change in the inclination of the lunar orbit with respect to the ecliptic from 4°59' to 5°19';
periodic change in the dimensions of the lunar orbit: perigee from 356.41 Mm to 369.96 Mm, apogee from 404.18 Mm to 406.74 Mm;
the gradual removal of the Moon from the Earth (by about 4 cm per year) so that its orbit is a slowly unwinding spiral. This is confirmed by measurements carried out over 25 years.

The force that causes the Moon to move away from the Earth is the transfer of the angular momentum of the Earth's rotation to the Moon, through tidal interaction.

The gravitational interaction of the Moon and the Earth is not constant, with increasing distance, the force of interaction decreases. This leads to the fact that with increasing distance, the rate of removal of the Moon decreases.

The period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth relative to the stars is 27.32166 days, this is the so-called sidereal month.

The full moon reflects only 7% of the sunlight falling on it. After periods of intense solar activity, individual places on the lunar surface may glow faintly due to luminescence. Since the Moon itself does not glow, but only reflects sunlight, only the part of the lunar surface illuminated by the Sun is visible from the Earth.

The Moon revolves in an orbit around the Earth, and thereby the angle between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun changes; we observe this phenomenon as a cycle of lunar phases. The period of time between successive new moons is 29.5 days (709 hours) and is called the synodic month.

The fact that the duration of the synodic month is longer than the sidereal one is explained by the movement of the Earth around the Sun: when the Moon makes a complete revolution around the Earth relative to the stars, the Earth by this time has already passed 1/13 of its orbit, and so that the Moon again finds itself between the Earth and the Sun, She needs an extra two days.

Although the Moon rotates around its axis, it always faces the Earth with the same side, that is, the rotation of the Moon around the Earth and around its own axis is synchronized. This synchronization is caused by the friction of the tides that the Earth produced in the shell of the Moon. According to the laws of mechanics, the Moon is oriented in the Earth's gravitational field in such a way that the semi-major axis of the lunar ellipsoid is directed towards the Earth.

There is a difference between the rotation of the Moon around its own axis and its revolution around the Earth: the Moon rotates around the Earth according to Kepler's law (unevenly, that is, faster near the perigee, slower near the apogee). However, the rotation of the satellite around its own axis is uniform. It is thanks to this that it is possible to look at the far side of the Moon from the west or from the east. This phenomenon of fluctuation is called optical libration in longitude.

In connection with the inclination of the Moon's axis relative to the plane of the Earth, it is possible to look at the opposite side from the north or from the south. This is also optical libration, but in latitude. These librations in total make it possible to observe about 59% of the lunar surface. This phenomenon of optical libration was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1635, when he was condemned by the Inquisition.

There is also physical libration due to the oscillation of the satellite around the equilibrium position due to the shifted center of gravity, as well as under the influence of tidal forces from the Earth. These fluctuations make up the so-called. physical libration, which is 0.02° in longitude with a period of 1 year and 0.04° in latitude with a period of 6 years.

Conditions on the surface of the moon

There is practically no atmosphere on the Moon. The content of gases near the surface at night does not exceed 200,000 particles/cm³ and increases by two orders of magnitude during the day due to degassing of the soil. This concentration of gases is equivalent to a deep vacuum, so during the day its surface heats up to +120 °C, but at night or even in the shade it cools down to -160 °C.

The sky on the moon is always black, even during the day. The huge disk of the Earth looks from the Moon 3.67 times larger than the Moon from the Earth and hangs in the sky almost motionless. The phases of the Earth as seen from the Moon are directly opposite to the lunar phases on Earth. Earth's reflected light illumination is about 50 times stronger than moonlight illumination on Earth.

The surface of the Moon is covered with so-called regolith - a mixture of fine dust and rocky debris formed as a result of collisions of meteoroids with the lunar surface. The thickness of the regolith layer ranges from fractions of a meter to tens of meters.

Ebb and flow

The gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon cause some interesting effects. The most famous of them is the tides of the sea. If we looked at the Earth from the side, we would see two bulges located on opposite sides of the planet.

Moreover, one point is from the side closest to the Moon, and the other is from the opposite side of the Earth, the most distant from the Moon. In the oceans, this effect is much more pronounced than in the solid crust, so the bulge of the water is greater. The amplitude of the tides (the difference between the levels of high and low tide) in the open spaces of the ocean is small and amounts to 30-40 cm.

However, near the coast, due to the incursion of a tidal wave onto a solid bottom, the tidal wave increases the height in the same way as ordinary wind waves of the surf. Given the direction of rotation around the Earth, it is possible to form a picture of the tidal wave following the ocean. Strong tides are more susceptible to the eastern coasts of the continents. The maximum amplitude of a tidal wave on Earth is observed in the Bay of Fundy in Canada and is 18 meters.

The two high points of the tide are formed due to the fact that the gravitational field of the Moon is rather inhomogeneous over the size of the Earth. If we decompose the vector of the gravitational field directed towards the Moon into 2 components - parallel to the Earth-Moon axis and perpendicular to it, then we can see that the cause of the tides is the perpendicular component. Parallel component over dimensions

The Earth changes little, but the perpendicular component changes sign! It is maximal in absolute value and is directed oppositely on the sides of the Earth, which are as far as possible from the Earth-Moon axis. This is the “gravity of the tide”, which creates a runoff of ocean water towards areas located on the Moon-Earth axis on both sides of the globe.

The inhomogeneity of the Moon's field near the Earth is much higher than the inhomogeneity of the Sun's field. Although the gravity of the Sun is much greater, but its field over the size of the Earth is almost uniform, since the distance to the Sun is 400 times greater than the distance to the Moon. Therefore, the tides arise mainly due to the influence of the moon. The tidal force of the Sun is on average 2.17 times less.

Geology of the Moon

Due to its size and composition, the Moon is sometimes classified as a terrestrial planet along with Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Therefore, by studying the geological structure of the Moon, one can learn a lot about the structure and development of the Earth.

The thickness of the Moon's crust averages 68 km, varying from 0 km under the lunar sea of ​​Crises to 107 km in the northern part of the Korolev crater on the far side. Beneath the crust is a mantle and possibly a small iron sulfide core (approximately 340 km in radius and 2% of the mass of the Moon). It is curious that the center of mass of the Moon is located approximately 2 km from the geometric center towards the Earth. On the side that faces the Earth, the crust is thinner.

Measurements of the speed of the Lunar Orbiter satellites made it possible to create a gravitational map of the Moon. With its help, unique lunar objects were discovered, called mascons (from the English mass concentration) - these are masses of matter of increased density.

The Moon does not have a magnetic field, although some of the rocks on its surface exhibit residual magnetism, which indicates the possibility of the existence of a magnetic field of the Moon in the early stages of development.

With no atmosphere or magnetic field, the Moon's surface is directly affected by the solar wind. For 4 billion years, hydrogen ions from the solar wind were introduced into the lunar regolith.

Thus, the regolith samples delivered by the Apollo missions proved to be very valuable for the study of the solar wind. This lunar hydrogen could also someday be used as rocket fuel.

surface of the moon

The lunar surface can be divided into two types: very old mountainous terrain (lunar mainland) and relatively smooth and younger lunar seas. The lunar seas, which make up approximately 16% of the entire surface of the moon, are huge craters resulting from collisions with celestial bodies that were later flooded with liquid lava. B

Most of the surface is covered with regolith. The lunar seas, under which denser, heavier rocks have been found by lunar satellites, are concentrated on the side facing the Earth due to the influence of the gravitational moment during the formation of the Moon.

Most of the craters on the side facing us are named after famous people in the history of science, such as Tycho Brahe, Copernicus and Ptolemy. The details of the relief on the reverse side have more modern names such as Apollo, Gagarin and Korolev.

On the far side of the Moon there is a huge depression (basin) with a diameter of 2250 km and a depth of 12 km - this is the largest basin in the solar system that appeared as a result of a collision. The Eastern Sea in the western part of the visible side (it can be seen from the Earth) is an excellent example of a multi-ringed crater.

Secondary details of the lunar relief are also distinguished - domes, ridges, rilli (from German Rille - furrow, gutter) - narrow winding valley-like relief depressions.

caves

The Japanese Kaguya probe discovered a hole in the surface of the Moon, located near the volcanic plateau of the Marius Hills, presumably leading to a tunnel under the surface. The diameter of the hole is about 65 meters, and the depth, presumably, is 80 meters.

Scientists believe that these tunnels were formed by the solidification of molten rock flows, where the lava froze in the center. These processes occurred during the period of volcanic activity on the Moon. This theory is confirmed by the presence of sinuous grooves on the surface of the satellite.

Such tunnels can serve as colonization, due to protection from solar radiation and the isolation of space, in which it is easier to maintain life support conditions.

There are similar holes on Mars.

Origin of the moon

Before scientists received samples of lunar soil, they knew nothing about when and how the moon formed. There were three fundamentally different theories:

The Moon and the Earth formed at the same time from a gas and dust cloud;
The moon was formed as a result of the collision of the Earth with another object;
The Moon formed elsewhere and was subsequently captured by the Earth.

However, new information obtained through detailed study of samples from the Moon led to the creation of the Giant Impact theory: 4.57 billion years ago, the protoplanet Earth (Gaia) collided with the protoplanet Theia. The blow fell not in the center, but at an angle (almost tangentially). As a result, most of the matter of the impacted object and part of the matter of the earth's mantle were ejected into near-Earth orbit.

Brief information:
Radius: 1,738 km
The semi-major axis of the orbit: 384,400 km
Orbital period: 27.321661 days
Orbital eccentricity: 0,0549
Orbital inclination to the equator: 5,16
Surface temperature: from - 160° to +120° С
Day: 708 hours
Average distance to Earth: 384400 km

Moon- this is perhaps the only celestial body in relation to which, from ancient times, no one had any doubt that it was moving around. Even with the naked eye, dark spots of various shapes are visible on the disk of the Moon, resembling a face to some, two people to some, and a hare to some. These spots began to be called as early as the 17th century. In those days, it was believed that there is water on the Moon, which means that there must be seas and oceans, as on Earth. The Italian astronomer Giovanni Riccioli assigned them the names used to this day: , , , , , , , , etc. The lighter areas of the lunar surface were considered land.

Already in 1753, the Croatian astronomer Rudzher Boskovic proved that the Moon does not have. When it covers a star, it disappears instantly, and if the Moon had an atmosphere, the star would fade gradually. From this it followed that there could be no liquid water on the surface of the Moon, since in the absence of atmospheric pressure it would immediately evaporate.

Galileo also discovered mountains on the moon. Among them were real mountain ranges, which began to be given the names of earthly mountains: the Alps, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Carpathians, the Caucasus. But there were also special mountains on the Moon - ring ones, they were called or circuses. The Greek word "crater" means "cup". Gradually, the name "circus" disappeared from the scene, but the term "crater" remained.

Riccioli proposed to give the craters the names of the great scientists of antiquity and modern times. So the craters Plato, Aristotle, Archimedes, Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, as well as Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho (Brage), Galileo appeared on the Moon. Riccioli did not forget himself either. Along with these famous names, there are those that today are not found in any book on astronomy, for example, Autolycus, Langren, Theophilus. But then, in the 17th century, these scientists were known and remembered.

Maps of the Moon (from top to bottom): visible hemisphere, eastern hemisphere at 120° longitude, western hemisphere at 120° longitude

With further study of the moon, new names were added to the names given by Riccioli. On later maps of the visible side of the Moon, such names as Flamsteed, Delandre, Piazzi, Lagrange, Darwin (meaning George Darwin, who created the first theory of the origin of the Moon), Struve, Delisle are immortalized.

After the Soviet automatic interplanetary stations of the series photographed the far side of the Moon, craters with the names of Russian scientists and space explorers were plotted on its maps: Lomonosov, Tsiolkovsky, Gagarin, Korolev, Mendeleev, Kurchatov, Vernadsky, Kovalevskaya, Lebedev, Chebyshev, Pavlov, and astronomers - Blazhko, Bredikhin, Belopolsky, Glazenap, Numerov, Parenago, Fesenkov, Tserasky, Sternberg.

The rotation of the moon. The time of rotation of the Moon around its axis exactly corresponds to the sidereal month, for this reason the Moon always faces the same side towards the surface of the Earth. This situation has been established over billions of years of evolution of the Earth-Moon system under the influence of tides in the lunar crust caused by the Earth. Since the Earth is 81 times more massive than the Moon, its tides are about 20 times stronger than those that the Moon causes on our planet. True, there are no oceans on the Moon, but its crust is subject to tidal influence from the Earth, just as the earth's crust experiences tides from the Moon and the Sun. Therefore, if in the distant past the Moon rotated faster, then over billions of years its rotation slowed down.

Scheme of the rotation of the moon

There is a significant difference between the rotation of the Moon around its axis and its revolution around the Earth. The Moon revolves around the Earth according to Kepler's laws, that is, unevenly: near perigee faster, near apogee slower. It rotates uniformly around the axis. Thanks to this, sometimes you can "look" a little at the far side of the Moon from the east, and sometimes from the west. This phenomenon is called optical libration (from Latin libratio - “swing”, “fluctuation”) in longitude. And a slight inclination of the lunar orbit to the ecliptic makes it possible at times to “look” at the far side of the Moon either from the north or from the south. This is optical libration in latitude. Both librations taken together make it possible to observe 59% of the lunar surface from the Earth. The optical libration of the Moon was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1635, already after the condemnation of the Catholic Inquisition.

Lunar eclipses. The moon during a total lunar eclipse is reddish in color. The ancient inhabitants of South America, the Incas, thought that the moon turned red from the disease and if she dies, then, perhaps, she will fall from the sky and fall.

It seemed to the Normans that the red wolf Mangarm again grew bolder and attacked the moon. The brave warriors, of course, understood that they could not harm the heavenly predator, but, knowing that the wolves could not stand the noise, they screamed, whistled, beat the drums. The noise attack sometimes lasted two or even three hours without a break.

Moon during total lunar eclipse

And in Central Asia, the eclipse passed in complete silence. People watched blankly as the evil spirit Rahu swallowed the moon. No one made a noise or waved their hands. After all, everyone knows that the good spirit of Ochirvani once cut off half the body of the demon and the Moon, passing through Rahu, as through a sleeve, will shine again. In Russia, it has always been believed that an eclipse portends trouble.

Lunar eclipses always occur on a full moon, when the Earth is between the Moon and the Sun and they all line up in one row. The Earth illuminated by the Sun casts a shadow into space. In length, the shadow has the form of a cone stretched a million kilometers; across it is round, and at a distance of 360 thousand kilometers from the Earth, its diameter is 2.5 times larger than the moon. Due to this, the duration of the full phase sometimes reaches one and a half hours. But at the moment of a lunar eclipse, the Moon is not completely dark, but reddish. The reddening of the moon is due to the scattering of sunlight in the earth's atmosphere.

The geometry of a lunar eclipse

If the plane of the Moon's orbit coincided with the plane of the Earth's orbit (the plane), then the lunar eclipses would be repeated every full moon, i.e. regularly every 29.5 days. But the monthly path of the Moon is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic by 5°, and the Moon only crosses the "circle of eclipses" twice a month at two "risky" points. These points are called the nodes of the lunar orbit. Therefore, in order for a lunar eclipse to occur, two independent conditions must coincide: there must be a full moon and the Moon at this time must be at the node of its orbit or somewhere nearby.

Depending on how close the Moon will be to the node of the orbit at the hour of the eclipse, it can pass through the middle of the shadow cone, and the eclipse will be as long as possible, or it can pass through the edge of the shadow, and then we will see a partial lunar eclipse. The cone of the earth's shadow is surrounded by penumbra. Only a part of the sun's rays that is not obscured by the Earth falls into this region of space. Therefore, there are penumbral eclipses. They are also reported in astronomical calendars, but these eclipses are indistinguishable to the eye, only a camera and a photometer are able to note the obscuration of the Moon during the penumbral phase or penumbral eclipse.

View of a lunar eclipse from the moon

Eastern priests, not yet understanding all this very clearly, for centuries kept a stubborn count of total and partial eclipses. At first glance, there is no order to the eclipse schedule. There are years when there are three lunar eclipses, and sometimes there are none. In addition, a lunar eclipse is visible only from that half of the globe where the Moon is above the horizon at that hour, so that from any place on Earth, for example from Egypt, only slightly more than half of all lunar eclipses can be observed.

But the sky finally revealed a great secret to stubborn observers: in 6585.3 days, 28 lunar eclipses always occur throughout the Earth. In the next 18 years, 11 days and 8 hours (and this is the named number of days), all eclipses will repeat according to the same schedule. It remains only to add 6585.3 days to the day of each eclipse. So the Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers learned to predict eclipses through "repetition." In Greek it is saros. Saros allows you to calculate eclipses for 300 years ahead. When the motion of the Moon in its orbit was well studied, astronomers learned to calculate not only the day of the eclipse, as was done with the saros, but also the exact time of its beginning.

Successive phases of a lunar eclipse

Christopher Columbus was the first navigator who, when setting sail, took with him an astronomical calendar to determine the longitude of open lands by the time of a lunar eclipse. During the fourth voyage across the Atlantic, in 1504, a lunar eclipse found Columbus on the island of Jamaica. The tables indicated the beginning of the eclipse on February 29 at 1:36 pm Nuremberg time. A lunar eclipse everywhere on Earth begins at the same time. However, the local time in Jamaica is many hours behind the time of the German city, because the Sun rises here much later than in Europe. The difference in the readings of the clocks in Jamaica and in Nuremberg is exactly equal to the difference in the longitudes of these two places, expressed in hours. There was no other way to more or less accurately determine the longitude of the West Indian cities then.

Columbus began to prepare for astronomical observations on the coast, but the natives, who met the sailors with apprehension, interfered with preliminary observations of the Sun and flatly refused to supply the strangers with food. Then Columbus, after waiting a couple of days, announced that he would deprive the islanders of moonlight that evening if they ... Of course, when the eclipse began, the frightened Caribs were ready to give everything to the white man, if only he would leave the Moon.

The theory of the formation of lunar craters. How were lunar craters formed? This question has been the cause of a long discussion. We are talking about the struggle between supporters of two hypotheses of the origin of lunar craters: volcanic and meteorite.

According to the volcanic hypothesis, which was put forward in the 80s. 18th century German astronomer Johann Schroeter, craters arose as a result of grandiose eruptions on the surface of the moon. In 1824, his compatriot Franz von Gruythuisen proposed a meteorite theory that explained the formation of craters by the fall of meteorites. In his opinion, during such impacts, the lunar surface is pressed through.

Only 113 years later, in 1937, Russian student Kirill Petrovich Stanyukovich (future Doctor of Science and Professor) proved that when meteorites hit at cosmic velocities, an explosion occurs, as a result of which not only the meteorite evaporates, but also part of the rocks at the impact site.

Scheme of the formation of an impact crater

In 1959, the Russian researcher Nadezhda Nikolaevna Sytinskaya proposed a meteor-slag theory for the formation of lunar soil. According to this theory, the heat transferred during a meteorite impact to the outer cover (regolith) of the Moon is spent not only on its melting and evaporation, but also on the formation of slags, which manifest themselves in the color features of the Moon's surface. The American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, who first set foot on the lunar surface on July 21, 1969, were convinced of the validity of the meteor-slag theory. Now the meteor-slag theory is generally accepted.

Moon phases. It is known that the moon changes its appearance. It itself does not emit light, therefore only its surface illuminated by the Sun is visible in the sky - the day side, which is equal to 0.073, that is, it reflects on average only 7.3% of the Sun's light rays. The Moon sends 465,000 times less light to Earth than the Sun. Its full moon magnitude is -12.5. Moving across the sky from west to east, the Moon changes its appearance - phase, due to a change in position relative to the Sun and Earth. There are four phases of the moon: new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter. Depending on the phases, the amount of light reflected by the Moon decreases much faster than the area of ​​the illuminated part of the Moon, so that when the Moon is at a quarter and we see half of its disk bright, it sends us not 50%, but only 8% of the light from full moon.

On a new moon, the moon cannot be seen even through a telescope. It is located in the same direction as the Sun (only above or below it), and is turned to the Earth by an unlit hemisphere. In one or two days, when the Moon moves away from the Sun, a narrow crescent can be observed a few minutes before its setting in the western side of the sky against the background of the evening dawn. The first appearance of the lunar crescent after the new moon was called by the Greeks "neomenia" ("new moon"). This moment among the ancient peoples was considered the beginning of the lunar month.

Moon phase diagram

Sometimes, for several days before and after the new moon, it is possible to notice the ashen light of the moon. This faint glow of the night part of the lunar disk is nothing but sunlight reflected by the Earth onto the Moon. When the crescent of the moon increases, the ashen light fades and becomes invisible.

The Moon moves further and further to the left of the Sun. Her sickle grows every day, remaining convex to the right, towards the Sun. After 7 days and 10 hours after the new moon, a phase begins, called the first quarter. During this time, the Moon moved away from the Sun by 90 °. Now the sun's rays illuminate only the right half of the lunar disk. After sunset, the moon is in the southern side of the sky and sets around midnight. Continuing to move further and further east from the Sun, the Moon appears on the eastern side of the sky in the evening. She comes in after midnight, and every day is getting later and later.

When our satellite is on the side opposite the Sun (at an angular distance of 180 ° from it), the full moon occurs. The full moon shines all night. It rises in the evening and sets in the morning. After 14 days and 18 hours from the moment of the new moon, the Moon begins to approach the Sun from the right. The illuminated fraction of the lunar disk is decreasing. The moon rises over the horizon late and never sets in the morning. The distance between the Moon and the Sun decreases from 180° to 90°. Again, only half of the lunar disk becomes visible, but this is already its left side. The last quarter is coming. And 22 days and 3 hours after the new moon, the Moon in the last quarter rises around midnight and shines throughout the second half of the night. By sunrise, it is in the southern side of the sky.

The width of the lunar crescent continues to decrease, and the Moon itself is gradually approaching the Sun from the right (western) side. A pale sickle appears in the eastern sky in the morning, getting later every day. Again the ashen light of the night moon is visible. The angular distance between the Moon and the Sun decreases from 90° to 0°. Finally, the Moon catches up with the Sun and becomes invisible again. The next new moon begins. The lunar month is over. 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.8 seconds have passed, or almost 29.6 days.

Successive phases of the moon

The time interval between successive phases of the same name of the moon is called the synodic month (from the Greek "sinodos" - "connection"). Thus, the synodic period is associated with the position of a celestial body (in this case, the Moon) relative to the Sun, visible in the sky. The Moon makes its way around the Earth relative to the stars in 27 days 7 hours 43 minutes 11.5 seconds. This period is called sidereal (from lat. sideris - "star"), or sidereal month. Thus, the sidereal month is slightly shorter than the synodic month. Why? Consider the movement of the moon from new moon to new moon. The moon, having made a revolution around the Earth in 27.3 days, returns to its place among the stars. But the Sun during this time has already moved along the ecliptic to the east, and only when the Moon catches up with it, will the next new moon come. And for this she will need about 2.2 more days.

The path of the Moon across the sky passes not far from the ecliptic, so the full Moon rises from the horizon at sunset and approximately repeats the path it traveled six months before. In summer, the Sun rises high in the sky, while the full Moon does not move far from the horizon. In winter, the Sun is low, and the Moon, on the contrary, rises high and illuminates the winter landscapes for a long time, giving the snow a blue tint.

The internal structure of the moon. The density of the Moon is 3340 kg/m3 - like that of the Earth's mantle. This means that our satellite either does not have a dense iron core, or it is very small.
More detailed information about the internal structure of the Moon was obtained as a result of seismic experiments. They began to be carried out in 1969, after the American spacecraft landed on the moon. Instruments of the next four expeditions " , and " formed a seismic network of four stations, which operated until October 1, 1977. It recorded three types of seismic shocks: thermal (cracking of the outer edge of the moon due to sudden temperature changes during the change of day and night); moonquakes in the lithosphere with a source at a depth of no more than 100 km; deep-focus moonquakes, the sources of which are located at depths from 700 to 1100 km (lunar tides serve as an energy source for them).

The total release of seismic energy on the Moon in a year is about a billion times less than on Earth. This is not surprising, since tectonic activity on the Moon ended several billion years ago, and on our planet continues to this day.

The internal structure of the moon

To reveal the structure of the subsurface layers of the Moon, active seismic experiments were carried out: seismic waves were excited by the fall of the spent parts of the Apollo spacecraft or by artificial explosions on the surface of the Moon. As it turned out, the thickness of the regolith cover ranges from 9 to 12 m. Below it is a layer with a thickness of several tens to hundreds of meters, the substance of which consists of emissions that arose during the formation of large craters. Further down to a depth of 1 km there are layers of basalt material.

According to seismic data, the Moon's mantle can be divided into three components: upper, middle and lower. The thickness of the upper mantle is about 400 km. In it, seismic velocities slightly decrease with depth. At depths of approximately 500-1000 km, seismic velocities remain largely constant. The lower mantle is located deeper than 1100 km, where seismic wave velocities increase.

One of the sensations of lunar exploration was the discovery of a thick crust 60-100 km thick. This indicates the existence in the past on the Moon of the so-called ocean of magma, in the depths of which the melting and formation of the crust took place during the first 100 million years of its evolution. It can be concluded that the Moon and the Earth had a similar origin. However, the tectonic regime of the Moon differs from the regime of plate tectonics characteristic of the Earth. Smelted basaltic magma is used to build up the lunar crust. That's why she's so fat.

Hypotheses of the origin of the moon. The first hypothesis about the origin of our satellite was proposed in 1879 by the English astronomer and mathematician George Darwin, son of the famous naturalist Charles Darwin. According to this hypothesis, the Moon once separated from the Earth, which at that time was in a liquid state. The study of the evolution of the lunar orbit did indicate that the Moon was once much closer to the Earth than it is now.

Changing views on the Earth's past and criticism of Darwin's hypothesis by the Russian geophysicist Vladimir Nikolaevich Lodochnikov forced scientists, beginning in 1939, to look for other ways of forming the Moon. In 1962, the American geophysicist Harold Urey suggested that the Earth had captured the already prepared, formed Moon. However, in addition to the very low probability of such an event, the similarity of the composition of the Moon and the Earth's mantle spoke against Urey's hypothesis.
In the 60s. Russian researcher Evgenia Leonidovna Ruskol, developing the ideas of her teacher, academician Otto Yulievich Schmidt, built a theory of the joint formation of the Earth and the Moon as a double planet from a cloud of pre-planetary bodies that once surrounded the Sun. This theory was supported by many Western scientists.

There is also an "impact" theory of the formation of the Moon. According to this theory, the Moon was formed as a result of a catastrophic collision of the Earth in the distant past with a planet the size of Mars.

Scheme and artistic representation of the impact theory of the formation of the Moon

Ray structure of lunar craters. Since the first telescopic observations of the Moon, astronomers have noticed that from some lunar craters, light bands, or rays, diverge strictly along the radii. The centers of light rays are the craters Copernicus, Kepler, Aristarchus. But the Tycho crater has the most powerful system of rays: some of its rays stretched for 2000 km.

What kind of light substance forms rays of lunar craters? And where did it come from? In 1960, when the dispute about the origin of the lunar craters themselves had not yet been completed, Russian scientists Kirill Petrovich Stanyukovich and Vitaly Alexandrovich Bronshten, both ardent supporters of the meteorite hypothesis of their formation, proposed the following explanation of the nature of ray systems.

Tycho Crater

The impact of a large meteorite or a small asteroid on the surface of the Moon is accompanied by an explosion: the kinetic energy of the impacting body instantly turns into heat. Part of the energy is spent on the ejection of lunar matter at different angles. A significant part of the ejected matter flies into space, overcoming the gravitational force of the moon. But matter ejected at small angles to the surface and with not very high velocities falls back onto the Moon. Experiments with terrestrial explosions show that matter is ejected in jets. And since there should be several such jets, a system of rays is obtained.

But why are they light? The fact is that the rays consist of finely divided matter, which is always lighter than a dense substance of the same composition. This was established by the experiments of Professor Vsevolod Vasilyevich Sharonov and his colleagues. And when the first astronauts stepped on the surface of the moon and took the substance of the moon's rays for research, this hypothesis was confirmed.

Exploration of the moon by space vehicles. Before the flights of space vehicles, nothing was known about the far side of the Moon and the composition of its interior, so it is not surprising that the first flight of a spacecraft above low Earth orbit was directed towards the Moon. This honor belongs to the Soviet spacecraft, which was launched on January 2, 1958. In accordance with the flight program, in a few days he passed at a distance of 6000 kilometers from the surface of the moon. Later in the same year, in mid-September, a similar apparatus of the Luna series reached the surface of the Earth's natural satellite.

Apparatus "Luna-1"

A year later, in October 1959, an automatic device equipped with photographic equipment took pictures of the far side of the Moon (about 70% of the surface) and transmitted its image to Earth. The apparatus had an orientation system with solar and moon sensors and jet engines running on compressed gas, a control and thermal control system. Its mass is 280 kilograms. The creation of "Luna-3" was a technical achievement for that time, it brought information about the far side of the Moon: noticeable differences were found with the visible side, primarily the absence of extended lunar seas.

In February 1966, the device delivered an automatic lunar station to the Moon, which made a soft landing and transmitted to Earth several panoramas of the nearby surface - a gloomy rocky desert. The control system ensured the orientation of the apparatus, the activation of the braking stage on command from the radar at an altitude of 75 kilometers above the surface of the Moon, and the separation of the station from it immediately before the fall. Depreciation was provided by an inflatable rubber balloon. The mass of "Luna-9" is about 1800 kilograms, the mass of the station is about 100 kilograms.

The next step in the Soviet lunar program was automatic stations , designed to collect soil from the surface of the Moon and deliver its samples to Earth. Their mass was about 1900 kilograms. In addition to the brake propulsion system and a four-legged landing device, the stations included a soil intake device, a take-off rocket stage with a return apparatus for delivering soil. The flights took place in 1970, 1972 and 1976, small amounts of soil were delivered to Earth.

Another problem solved , (1970, 1973). They delivered self-propelled vehicles to the Moon - lunar rovers, controlled from the Earth according to a stereoscopic television image of the surface. traveled about 10 kilometers in 10 months - about 37 kilometers in 5 months. In addition to panoramic cameras, the lunar rovers were equipped with: a soil sampling device, a spectrometer for analyzing the chemical composition of the soil, and a path meter. The masses of the moon rovers are 756 and 840 kg.

Model of the device "Lunokhod-2"

The spacecraft have been designed to take images during the fall, from an altitude of about 1600 kilometers to several hundred meters above the surface of the moon. They were equipped with six television cameras. The vehicles crashed during landing, so the resulting images were transmitted immediately, without recording. During three successful flights, extensive materials were obtained for studying the morphology of the lunar surface. Filming "Rangers" marked the beginning of the American planetary photography program.

The design of the Ranger vehicles is similar to the design of the first Mariner vehicles, which were launched to Venus in 1962. However, further design of lunar spacecraft did not follow this path. Other spacecraft were used to obtain detailed information about the lunar surface -. These devices from the orbits of artificial satellites of the Moon photographed the surface with high resolution.

"Lunar Orbiter-1"

One of the objectives of the flights was to obtain high-quality images with two resolutions, high and low, in order to select possible landing sites for the vehicles and Apollo using a special camera system. The images were developed on board, scanned by a photoelectric method and transmitted to Earth. The number of shots was limited by the stock of film (for 210 frames). In 1966-1967, five Lunar Orbiter launches were carried out (all successful). The first three Orbiters were launched into low-inclination, low-altitude circular orbits; each of them took stereo surveys of selected areas on the visible side of the Moon with very high resolution and surveyed large areas of the far side with low resolution. The fourth satellite operated in a much higher polar orbit, it surveyed the entire surface of the visible side, the fifth, the last Orbiter, also conducted observations from a polar orbit, but from lower altitudes. Lunar Orbiter 5 provided high resolution imagery of many special targets on the visible side, mostly at mid-latitudes, and a large part of the low resolution imagery of the far side. Ultimately, medium-resolution imaging covered almost the entire surface of the Moon, while targeted imaging was in progress, which was invaluable for the planning of landings on the Moon and its photogeological research.

Additionally, an accurate mapping of the gravitational field was carried out, while regional mass concentrations were identified (which is important both from a scientific point of view and for landing planning purposes) and a significant shift of the Moon's center of mass from the center of its figure was established. Fluxes of radiation and micrometeorites were also measured.

The Lunar Orbiter vehicles had a triaxial orientation system, their mass was about 390 kilograms. After the completion of mapping, these devices crashed on the lunar surface to stop the operation of their radio transmitters.

Flights of the Surveyor spacecraft, intended to obtain scientific data and engineering information (such mechanical properties as, for example, the bearing capacity of the lunar soil), made a great contribution to understanding the nature of the Moon, to the preparation of the Apollo landings.

Automatic landings using a sequence of commands controlled by a closed loop radar were a great technical achievement of the time. The Surveyors were launched by Atlas-Centaurus rockets (the Atlas cryogenic upper stages were another technical success of the time) and placed in transfer orbits to the Moon. Landing maneuvers began 30 - 40 minutes before landing, the main braking engine was turned on by radar at a distance of about 100 kilometers to the landing point. The final stage (the rate of descent was about 5 m/s) was carried out after the end of the main engine and its reset at an altitude of 7500 meters. The mass of the "Surveyor" at launch was about 1 ton and during landing - 285 kilograms. The main brake engine was a solid-propellant rocket weighing about 4 tons. The spacecraft had a triaxial orientation system.

"Surveyor-3" on the Moon

Fine instrumentation included two cameras for a panoramic view of the terrain, a small bucket for digging a trench in the ground, and (in the last three devices) an alpha analyzer for measuring backscatter of alpha particles in order to determine the elemental composition of the soil under the lander. Retrospectively, the results of the chemical experiment have clarified much about the nature of the Moon's surface and its history. Five of the seven Surveyor launches were successful, all landing in the equatorial zone, except for the last one, which landed in the ejecta of the Tycho crater at 41°S.

The Apollo manned spacecraft were next in the US lunar exploration program. In February 1966, the Apollo was tested in an unmanned version. However, what happened on January 27, 1967 prevented the successful implementation of the program. On this day, astronauts E. White, R. Guffey, V. Grissom died in a flash of flame during training on Earth. After investigating the causes, the tests resumed and became more difficult. In December 1968, Apollo 8 (still without a lunar cabin) was launched into a selenocentric orbit, followed by re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere at second cosmic velocity. It was a manned flight around the moon. The pictures helped to clarify the place of the future landing on the moon of people. On July 16, Apollo 11 launched to the Moon and on July 19 entered lunar orbit. On July 21, 1969, people landed on the Moon for the first time - American astronauts N. Armstrong and E. Aldrin, delivered there by the Apollo 11 spacecraft. The astronauts delivered several hundred kilograms of samples to Earth and conducted a number of studies on the Moon: measurements of heat flux, magnetic field, the level of radiation, intensity and composition of the solar wind.It turned out that the heat flux from the interior of the Moon is about three times less than from the interior of the Earth.Remanent magnetization was found in the rocks of the Moon, which indicates the existence of a magnetic field in the Moon in the past.This was an outstanding achievement in history space exploration - for the first time a man reached the surface of another celestial body and stayed on it for more than two hours.Following the flight of the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the Moon, six expeditions were sent over 3.5 years ("Apollo - 12" - "Apollo - 17"), five of which were quite successful. On the Apollo 13 spacecraft, due to an accident on board, the flight program had to be changed, and vm The landing on the Moon was followed by a flyby and return to Earth. In total, 12 astronauts visited the Moon, some of them stayed on the Moon for several days, including up to 22 hours outside the cabin, traveled several tens of kilometers on a self-propelled vehicle. They carried out a fairly large amount of scientific research, collected over 380 kilograms of lunar soil samples, which were studied by laboratories in the United States and other countries. Work on the program of flights to the moon was also carried out in the USSR, but for several reasons they were not completed.

Apollo 11 on the Moon

No manned flights to the Moon have been made since Apollo. Scientists had to be content with continuing to process data from automatic and manned flights in the 1960s and 1970s. Some of them foresaw the exploitation of lunar resources in the future and turned their efforts to developing processes that could turn lunar soil into materials suitable for construction, for energy production and for rocket engines. When planning a return to lunar exploration, both robotic and manned spacecraft will no doubt find use.

In the 1990s, two small automatic missions were sent to the Moon. A mission orbited the Moon for 71 days in 1994, testing sensors for a space-based missile defense system and mapping the contours and colors of the Moon. During the mission, the Aitken impact pit was discovered at the south pole - a hole in the Moon with a diameter of 2.6 thousand km and a depth of about 13 km. The blow was so strong that, apparently, it dug through the entire crust to the mantle itself. The color data obtained by Clementine, together with information about the samples obtained by the Apollo missions, create a map of regional composition - the first accurate "rock map" of the Moon. Finally, Clementine gave us a subtle hint that the solid dark regions near the Moon's south pole may contain water ice brought in by comet impacts over millions of years.

Shortly after Clementine, the lander mapped the Moon's surface from orbit during its 1998-1999 mission. These data, together with those obtained during the Clementine mission, gave scientists global compositional maps showing the complex structure of the Moon's crust. Lunar Prospector also mapped the surface magnetic fields of the Moon for the first time. The data show that Descartes (Apollo 16 landing site) is one of the strongest magnetic zones on the Moon, which explains the surface measurements made by John Young in 1972. The mission also found vast reserves of hydrogen at both poles, adding to the debate over the nature of lunar ice.

Now humanity is preparing to return to the moon. International missions to lunar orbit are being produced and planned to produce global maps of unrivaled quality. Soft landings are planned on the Moon, in particular in the mysterious polar regions, to obtain new images of the surface, study the sediments and the unusual environment of these regions. Eventually humans will return to the moon. And this time, the goal will not be to prove that we can do it (as was the case with Apollo), but to learn how to use the Moon to support new and expanding space opportunities. On the Moon, humanity will acquire the skills needed to live and work on other worlds. We are using this knowledge and technology to open up the solar system for human exploration.

Lunar colony through the eyes of an artist

The history of the moon and the processes on it are interesting in their own right, but they also subtly changed the way we look at our own past. One of the most significant discoveries of the 80s of the twentieth century was a powerful blow that occurred 65 million years ago in the territory of modern Mexico, which led to the extinction of dinosaurs, which allowed mammals to develop significantly. This discovery was made possible by the identification and interpretation of the chemical and physical signatures of a high-velocity impact and emerged directly from studies of impact rocks and landforms carried out by the Apollo mission. Today, scientists believe that such impacts have caused many, if not the vast majority, of global extinctions in the history of life on Earth. The moon contains a "record" of such events, and scientists will be able to study them in detail when they return to the moon.

By going to the moon, we can better understand the "working" of the universe and our own origins. The study of the moon has changed the idea of ​​the collision of solid bodies. This process, once considered rare and unusual, is now regarded as fundamental to the origin and evolution of the planets. As we return to the Moon, we look forward to learning more about our past and, just as importantly, a glimpse into our future.

Interesting Facts.

• The moon is depicted on the coats of arms and flags of such countries: Laos, Mongolia, Palau, the Sami flag, the Shan flag (Myanmar). The moon in the form of a crescent is depicted on the flags and emblems of such countries: the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
• For Muslims, once a year the birth of a new moon marks the beginning of the month of fasting - Ramadan.
• Everyone knows the first words spoken on the moon by Neil Armstrong, but no one knows about the last words spoken by Eugene Cernan on December 11, 1972: "Today's challenge to America determined the fate of people tomorrow."
• The diameter of the moon is 3476 km and is almost equal to the width of Australia, and the total area of ​​the moon is 4 times smaller than Europe.
• You can jump up to 6 times higher on the Moon than on Earth. This is because the force of gravity on the Moon is only 1/6th of that of the Earth. However, do not think that you will really jump on the moon so high - after all, you will be wearing a heavy protective suit.
• During an eclipse of the Sun, the shadow cast by the Moon travels up to two kilometers per second.

In a broad sense, a companion is a fellow traveler or comrade, one who accompanies someone along the way. But not only humans have satellites. The planets also have their "fellow travelers". What are they? When was the first artificial satellite invented?

The emergence of satellites

In astronomy, the concept of "satellite" first appeared thanks to the scientist Johannes Kepler. He used it as early as 1611 in his Narratio de Iovis Satellitibus. In the usual sense, planetary satellites are cosmic bodies that revolve around the planets. They turn in their own orbit under the influence of the gravitational forces of their "senior companion".

Natural satellites are bodies that appeared naturally, without human intervention. They can be formed from gas and dust, or from a fragment of a celestial body, captured by the forces of gravity of the planet. Falling under the influence of gravitational forces, they are transformed, for example, they are compressed and compacted, they acquire a spherical shape (not always), etc.

It is assumed that most of the modern satellites of the planets are their fragments that broke off as a result of a collision, or former asteroids. As a rule, they consist of ice and minerals, unlike planets, they do not have a metal core, they are dotted with craters and faults.

When a satellite is opened, it is assigned a number. Then the discoverer has the right to name it at his own discretion. Traditionally, their names are associated with mythology. Only in Uranus are they named after literary characters.

planetary satellites

Planets can have the most diverse number of "companions". The Earth has only one - the Moon, but Jupiter has 69 of them. Venus and Mercury have no satellites. Periodically there are statements about their discovery, but all of them are soon refuted.

Jupiter's moon, Ganymede, is considered the largest in the solar system. It consists of silicates and ice, and reaches a diameter of 5,268 kilometers. A complete revolution around Jupiter takes him 7 days and 3 hours.

Mars has two "fellow travelers" with impressive names Deimos and Phobos, which is translated from Greek as "horror" and "fear". They have a shape close to a triaxial ellipsoid (the length of the semi-axes is not the same). Scientists say that the speed of Phobos is gradually decreasing, and he himself is approaching the planet. One day it will simply fall on Mars or collapse, forming a planetary ring.

Moon

The only natural earth satellite is the Moon. This is the closest and most studied by us celestial body outside the planet Earth. It has a core, lower, middle, upper mantles and bark. The Moon also has an atmosphere.

The crust of the satellite consists of regolith - residual soil from dust and stony fragments of meteorites. The surface of the Moon is covered with mountains, furrows, ridges, as well as seas (large lowlands covered with solidified lava). Its atmosphere is very rarefied, which is why the sky above it is always black and starry.

The motion of the Moon around the Earth is complex. It is influenced not only by the gravity of our planet, but also by its oblate shape, as well as the attraction of the Sun, which attracts the Moon more strongly. Its full circulation takes 27.3 days. Its orbit is in the plane of the ecliptic, while for most other satellites it is located in the equatorial zone.

The moon also rotates around its axis. However, this movement is synchronized so that it is always turned to the Earth by the same side. The same phenomenon is observed in Pluto with its satellite Charon.

artificial satellites

Artificial satellites are devices created by man and sent into orbit around the planet. Inside them are various devices necessary for research.

As a rule, they are unmanned and controlled from earthly space stations. To launch them into space, special manned vehicles are used. Satellites are:

• research - for the study of space and celestial bodies;
• navigation - to determine the location of Earth objects, determine the speed and direction of the signal receiver (GPS, Glonas);
• communication satellites - transmit a radio signal between distant points on Earth;
• meteorological - receives data on the state of the atmosphere for weather forecasting.

The first artificial Earth satellite was released during the Cold War in 1957. It was sent from the USSR and was called "Sputnik-1". A year later, the United States released the Explorer 1. Only a few years later they were followed by Great Britain, Canada, Italy, France, Australia and many other countries.

In astrology, the Moon is considered the personification of the feminine, maternal principle. The moon is fickle and mysterious, like a woman.

The phases of the moon are closely related to many life cycles on earth. in different Moon phases its influence on the human body also changes.

It is noticed that during the waning phase of the moon, the number of born boys increases and the number of girls born decreases. Not only in patients, but also in healthy people, the influence of the moon is quite noticeable. It is expressed, for example, in increased working capacity and excitability during the period of the full moon, as well as in a decrease in activity and increased fatigue during the new moon.

There are also statistics indicating an increase in the number of crimes during the full moon. Thus, it can be concluded that there is a relationship betweenphases of the moon and mental state of people, expressed in a change in mood.

Moon

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. It is the second brightest object in the earth's sky after the Sun and the fifth largest natural satellite in the solar system. Also, it is the first (and in 2009 the only) extraterrestrial object of natural origin visited by a person. The average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 384,467 km.

Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. The distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384.4 thousand km. The diameter of the moon is 3474 km, a little more than a quarter of the diameter of the earth. Accordingly, the size of the Moon in terms of volume is only 2% of the volume of the Earth. Due to the smaller mass, the gravitational force on the Moon is 6 times less than on Earth. The period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth is 27.3 days. Due to the fact that the Moon has a fairly large mass and is relatively close to the Earth, we observe the gravitational interaction between them, in the form of ebbs and flows. Tides are more noticeable on the coasts of the oceans, where they reach a value of several meters, they also exist in closed bodies of water, and even in the earth's crust. As a result of the tides, there is a loss of energy in the Earth-Moon system due to the friction that occurs between the oceans and the bottom, and between the earth's crust and mantle. This loss of energy causes the strength of the interaction between the Earth and the Moon to decrease steadily, which explains why the distance between the Earth and the Moon increases by about 4 cm every year.

The moon is the only celestial body on which man has landed. The first artificial object to overcome the gravity of the Earth and fly near the Moon was the Soviet station Luna 1. The first satellite to reach the surface of the Moon was the Luna 2 station. The first satellite to take photographs of the far side of the Moon was the Luna 3 station. the programs were successfully completed in 1959. The first successful soft landing on the Moon was made by the Soviet Luna 9 station. The American Apollo lunar program began in the early 1960s with President Kennedy's announcement that the United States would put a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. As a result of this program, the United States managed to carry out 6 successful flights to the moon between 1969 and 1972. After the completion of the Apollo program, exploration of our natural satellite was virtually stopped for a period of more than 30 years. Only at the beginning of our century, several countries, including Russia, the USA and China, announced the start of their lunar programs, the results of which should be the return of a man to the moon.

Two sides of the moon

The periods of revolution of the Moon around its own axis and around the Earth are the same, respectively, the Moon faces the Earth all the time with only one side. Due to the peculiarity of the rotation of the Moon and the Earth, we can observe about 59% of the surface of the Moon. That part of the Moon that is not visible to an observer from Earth is what we call the "far side" of the Moon. The far side of the Moon was first photographed by the Soviet lunar station Luna 3 in 1959.

Full moon 2009

Moscow time (MSK)			Universal Time (UTC)
Sun	January 11, 2009	06:25:13	Sun	January 11, 2009	03:25:13
Mon	February 9, 2009	17:47:17	Mon	February 9, 2009	14:47:17
Wed	March 11, 2009	05:35:49	Wed	March 11, 2009	02:35:49
Thu	April 9, 2009	18:53:58	Thu	April 9, 2009	14:53:58
Sat	May 9, 2009	07:59:47	Sat	May 9, 2009	03:59:47
Sun	June 7, 2009	22:10:38	Sun	June 7, 2009	18:10:38
Tue	July 7, 2009	13:20:38	Tue	July 7, 2009	09:20:38
Thu	August 6, 2009	04:53:41	Thu	August 6, 2009	00:53:41
Fri	September 4, 2009	20:00:54	Fri	September 4, 2009	16:00:54
Sun	October 4, 2009	10:08:37	Sun	October 4, 2009	06:08:37
Mon	November 2, 2009	22:12:58	Mon	November 2, 2009	19:12:58
Wed	December 2, 2009	10:29:40	Wed	December 2, 2009	07:29:40
Thu	December 31, 2009	22:11:26	Thu	December 31, 2009	19:11:26

New Moon 2009

Moscow time (MSK)			Universal Time (UTC)
Mon	January 26, 2009	10:51:44	Mon	January 26, 2009	07:51:44
Wed	February 25, 2009	04:32:42	Wed	February 25, 2009	01:32:42
Thu	March 26, 2009	19:07:40	Thu	March 26, 2009	16:07:40
Sat	April 25, 2009	07:24:26	Sat	April 25, 2009	03:24:26
Sun	May 24, 2009	16:09:09	Sun	May 24, 2009	12:09:09
Mon	June 22, 2009	23:31:53	Mon	June 22, 2009	19:31:53
Wed	July 22, 2009	06:34:12	Wed	July 22, 2009	02:34:12
Thu	August 20, 2009	14:02:12	Thu	August 20, 2009	10:02:12
Fri	September 18, 2009	22:41:22	Fri	September 18, 2009	18:41:22
Sun	October 18, 2009	09:27:22	Sun	October 18, 2009	05:27:22
	November 16, 2009	22:10:56	Mon	November 16, 2009	19:10:56
Wed	December 16, 2009	15:03:20	Wed	December 16, 2009	12:03:20

In the lunar month, there are two most important points that are associated with the position of the Moon relative to the Sun. This is a new moon and a full moon.

Neomenia (Greek neomenia - "new moon" "), obsolete - the first light - the first appearance of the crescent moon in the sky after the new moon.Neomenia occurs no later than 3 days after the new moon.In neomenia, the moon is observed at dusk a few minutes before its setting.

Moon phases

Phases of the Moon (from Greek Phasis - appearance)
Moon phases- various forms of the part of the Moon, visible from the Earth, illuminated by the Sun. The change in the phases of the moon is due to a change in the relative position of the sun, earth and moon. There are four main phases of the moon:
-1 - new moon;
-2- first quarter;
-3- full moon;
-4- last quarter.

Age of the Moon

The age of the moon is the number of days that have passed since the new moon phase.

bulging moon

Convex Moon - the phase of the moon between the first quarter and the full moon, or between the full moon and the last quarter.

Lunar rhythms

Lunar rhythms - biological rhythms corresponding in cycle to the phases of the moon (29.53 days) or lunar days (24.8 hours). Lunar rhythms are characteristic of marine plants and animals.

Moon month

A lunar month is a period of changing lunar phases, starting with the new moon and then the first quarter, full moon and last quarter.

New moon

The New Moon is one of the four major phases of the Moon, when the Moon passes roughly between the Sun and the Earth between the Earth and the Sun and is not visible from Earth at all.

The moment of the new moon comes at the conjunction of the Moon with the Sun.
When the Moon passes exactly between the Earth and the Sun during a new moon, a solar eclipse occurs.

First quarter

The first quarter is the phase of the moon, when exactly half of the visible disk is illuminated, and the moon is coming.
The first quarter occurs when the Moon is in east quadrature.

Full moon

The full moon is one of the four main phases of the moon, when the moon is in the opposite direction from the sun and is visible from the earth as a full disk.
The moment of the full moon comes at the opposition of the Moon and the Sun.
When the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow during a full moon, a lunar eclipse occurs.

Last quarter

The last quarter is the phase of the Moon, when exactly half of the visible disk is illuminated, and the Moon is waning.
The last quarter occurs at the moments when the Moon is in the western quadrature.

Waxing Crescent

Waxing Moon - part of the cycle of phases of the moon, when the illuminated part of the visible disk increases.

synodic month

Synodic month - the time interval between two successive new moons, with an average duration of 29.53059 days.
The synodic month is longer than the sidereal month by the time the Moon travels an additional 1/13 of its orbit.

Waning moon

The waning moon is part of the cycle of the phases of the moon, when the illuminated part of the visible disk decreases.

Lunar calendar for September 2009

September 1 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 19:15 12, then 13 lunar day
September 1 - Moon in the sign of Aquarius from 3:43 GMT
September 1 - unfavorable time: before 3:43 GMT

September 2 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 19:27 13, then 14 lunar day
September 2 - Moon in the sign of Aquarius

September 3 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 19:37 14, then 15 lunar day
September 3 - Moon in Pisces from 16:00 GMT
September 3 - unfavorable time: 5:20 - 16:00 GMT

September 4 - phase of the moon: full moon at 16:03 GMT
until 19:45 15th, then 16th lunar day
September 4 - Moon in Pisces

September 5 - phase of the moon: III quarter (waning moon), until 19:55 16, then 17 lunar day
September 5 - Moon in Pisces
September 5 - unfavorable time: from 16:50 GMT until the end of the day

September 6 - phase of the moon: III quarter (waning moon), until 20:02 17, then 18 lunar day
September 6 - Moon in the sign of Aries from 2:15 GMT
September 6 - unfavorable time: until 2:15 GMT

September 7 - phase of the moon: III quarter (waning moon), until 20:12 18, then 19 lunar day
September 7 - Moon in the sign of Aries
September 7 - favorable time: all day

September 8 - phase of the moon: III quarter (waning moon), until 20:25 19, then 20 lunar day
September 8 - Moon in the sign of Taurus from 10:18 GMT
September 8 - unfavorable time: 00:13 - 10:18 GMT

September 9 - phase of the moon: III quarter (waning moon), until 20:45 20, then 21 lunar days
September 9 - Moon in the sign of Taurus

September 10 - phase of the moon: III quarter (waning moon), until 21:11 21, then 22 lunar day
September 10 - Moon in the sign of Gemini from 16:17 GMT
September 10 - favorable time: 6:30 - 7:17 GMT
September 10 - unfavorable time: 7:17 - 16:17 GMT

September 11 - phase of the moon: III quarter (waning moon), until 21:55 22, then 23 lunar day
September 11 - Moon in the sign of Gemini

September 12 - phase of the moon: IV quarter (waning moon), until 22:55 23, then 24 lunar day
September 12 - Moon in the sign of Cancer from 20:20 GMT
September 12 - unfavorable time: 11:30 - 20:20 GMT

September 13 - phase of the moon: IV quarter (waning moon), 24 lunar day
September 13 - Moon in the sign of Cancer

September 14 - phase of the moon: IV quarter (waning moon), from 00:17 25 lunar day
September 14 - Moon in Leo from 22:40 GMT
September 14 - favorable time: before 14:00 GMT
September 14 - unfavorable time: 14:00 - 22:40 GMT

September 15 - phase of the moon: IV quarter (waning moon), from 1:50 26 lunar day
September 15 - Moon in Leo

September 16 - phase of the moon: IV quarter (waning moon), from 3:25 27 lunar day
September 16 - Moon in the sign of Virgo from 23:56 GMT
September 16 - favorable time: 14:45 - 16:10 GMT
September 16 - unfavorable time: 16:10 - 23:56 GMT

September 17 - phase of the moon: IV quarter (waning moon), from 5:00 28 lunar day
September 17 - Moon in the sign of Virgo

September 18 - phase of the moon: new moon at 18:45 GMT
from 6:33 to 22:45 29th, then 1st lunar day
September 18 - Moon in the sign of Virgo
September 18 - favorable time: from 19:30 GMT until the end of the day

September 19 - phase of the moon: I quarter (young moon), from 8:05 2 lunar day
September 19 - Moon in the sign of Libra from 1:26 GMT
September 19 - unfavorable time: before 1:26 GMT

September 20 - phase of the moon: I quarter (young moon), from 9:33 3 lunar day
September 20 - Moon in the sign of Libra
September 20 - favorable time: 4:00 - 18:45 GMT
September 20 - unfavorable time: from 18:45 GMT until the end of the day

September 21 - phase of the moon: I quarter (young moon), from 11:02 4 lunar day
September 21 - Moon in the sign of Scorpio from 4:52 GMT
September 21 - unfavorable time: before 4:52 GMT

September 22 - phase of the moon: I quarter (young moon), from 12:30 5 lunar day
September 22 - Moon in the sign of Scorpio

September 23 - phase of the moon: I quarter (young moon), from 13:48 6 lunar day
September 23 - Moon in the sign of Sagittarius from 11:43 GMT
September 23 - favorable time: 1:00 - 3:33 GMT
September 23 - unfavorable time: 03:33 - 11:43 GMT

September 24 - phase of the moon: I quarter (young moon), until 15:00 6, then 7 lunar day
September 24 - Moon in the sign of Sagittarius

September 25 - phase of the moon: I quarter (young moon), until 15:53 ​​7, then 8 lunar day
September 25 - Moon in the sign of Capricorn from 22:20 GMT
September 25 - unfavorable time: 14:15 - 22:20 GMT

September 26 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 16:33 8, then 9 lunar day
September 26 - Moon in the sign of Capricorn

September 27 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 17:00 9, then 10 lunar day
September 27 - Moon in the sign of Capricorn
September 27 - favorable time: from 14:30 GMT until the end of the day

September 28 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 17:20 10, then 11 lunar day
September 28 - Moon in the sign of Aquarius from 11:07 GMT
September 28 - favorable time: before 3:33 GMT
September 28 - unfavorable time: 03:33 - 11:07 GMT

September 29 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 17:33 11, then 12 lunar day
September 29 - Moon in the sign of Aquarius

September 30 - phase of the moon: II quarter (young moon), until 17:45 12, then 13 lunar day
September 30 - Moon in the sign of Pisces from 23:25 GMT
September 30 - unfavorable time: 11:35 - 23:25 GMT

Lunar "oceans" and "seas"

Dark areas of the surface that we can see from the Earth on the surface Moon, we call "oceans" and "seas". Such names came from antiquity, when ancient astronomers thought that Moon has seas and oceans, just like the Earth. In fact, these dark areas of the Moon's surface were formed as a result of volcanic eruptions and they are filled with basalt, which is darker than the rocks surrounding it.
rice. left - Moon as we observe it, on the right - as if the Moon actually had seas, oceans and an atmosphere.

Lunar mountains and plateaus

There are several mountain ranges and plateaus on the Moon. They differ from the lunar "oceans" in a lighter color. Lunar mountains, unlike mountains on Earth, were formed as a result of collisions of giant meteorites with the surface, and not as a result of tectonic processes.

lunar craters

On the surface of the Moon, we can observe evidence of the bombardment of its surface by asteroids, comets and meteorites. There are about half a million craters larger than 1 km. Due to the lack of atmosphere, water and significant geological processes on the Moon, lunar craters have not actually undergone changes, and even ancient craters have been preserved on its surface. The largest crater on the moon is located on the far side of the moon, its dimensions are 2240 km in diameter and 13 km deep.

Lunar regolith

Surface Moon covered with a layer of rock, crushed to a dusty state as a result of bombardment by meteorites for millions of years. This rock is called regolith. The thickness of the regolith layer varies from 3 meters in the regions of the lunar "oceans" to 20 meters on the lunar plateaus.

water on the moon

In samples of lunar rock delivered to Earth by astronauts who participated in the Apollo mission and Soviet lunar rovers, no water was found. Although the surface of the Moon has been bombarded by comets since its formation, comet nuclei are known to be composed mostly of ice. Accordingly, as a result, part of this ice could remain on the surface of our satellite. Under the influence of solar radiation, water atoms should have decayed into hydrogen and oxygen atoms and, due to weak gravity, simply evaporate into outer space. Mapping the lunar surface by NASA's Clementine satellite in 1994 found craters in the lunar polar regions that are permanently in shadow and could have retained water. Due to the great importance of water availability for future colonization Moon lunar bases are planned to be located in the polar regions of our satellite.

Internal structure

The Moon, like the Earth, consists of distinct layers: crust, mantle and core. Such a structure is believed to have formed immediately after the formation of the Moon - 4.5 billion years ago. The thickness of the lunar crust is believed to be 50 km. Moonquakes occur in the thickness of the lunar mantle, but unlike earthquakes, which are caused by the movement of tectonic plates, moonquakes are caused by the tidal forces of the Earth. The core of the moon, like the earth's core, is made of iron, but its size is much smaller and is 350 km in radius. The average density of the Moon is 3.3 g/cm3.

lunar atmosphere

One of the sources of the lunar atmosphere are gases that are released from the lunar crust, such gases include radon gas. Another source of gases in the atmosphere Moon are the gases released during the bombardment of the lunar surface by micrometeorites and the solar wind. Due to the weak magnetic and gravitational field Moon almost all gases from the atmosphere escape into outer space.

Origin of the Moon

There are several theories to explain the formation Moon. One of the first theories that explained the process of the formation of the Moon was the theory that the Moon was formed as a result of the action of centrifugal forces during the formation of the Earth. As a result of these forces, part of the earth's crust was thrown into outer space. From this part, the Moon was formed. Due to the fact that, as scientists believe, in the entire history of the Earth, our planet has never had a sufficient rotational speed to confirm this theory, such a view of the formation of the Moon is considered outdated at the moment. Another theory suggests that the Moon formed separately from the Earth, and was subsequently simply captured by the Earth's gravitational field. The third theory explains that both the Earth and the Moon were formed from a single protoplanetary cloud and the process of their formation took place simultaneously.

Although the above three theories of the formation of the Moon explain its origin, they all contain one or another contradiction. The dominant theory of the formation of the Moon, today, is the theory of a giant collision of the proto-Earth with a celestial body the size of the planet Mars.

Earth-Moon system

Moon makes a complete revolution around the Earth in 27.3 days. However, due to the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, an observer on Earth can observe the cyclic change of the lunar phases only every 29.5 days. The movement of the Moon around the Earth occurs in the plane of the ecliptic, and not in the plane of the earth's equator (most of the natural satellites of other planets rotate in the plane of the equator of their planets).

The tides that we observe on Earth are mostly influenced by the Moon, the Sun has only a small effect on these processes. Tidal processes are the reason for the gradual removal of the Moon from the Earth, which is caused by the loss of angular momentum in the Earth-Moon system. The distance between the Earth and the Moon increases by 3.8 meters every century. Also, these processes are responsible for the gradual deceleration of the Earth's rotation around its axis, which increases the duration of the Earth's day by 0.002 seconds per century.

Earth system - Moon some scientists consider it not as a Planet-Satellite system, but as a double planet, since the size and mass of the Moon are quite large. The diameter of the moon is 3/4 of the diameter of the earth, and the mass of the moon is 1/81 of the mass of the earth. As a result, the rotation of the Earth-Moon system does not occur around the center of the Earth, but around the center of mass of the Earth-Moon system, which is located at a distance of 1700 km below the Earth's surface.

Moon observations

During the period of the full moon, its brightness is -12.6. For comparison, the brightness of the Sun is -26.8. The disk of the Moon, when it is closer to the horizon, appears larger to the observer, although in fact it is about 1.5% smaller than when Moon is at its zenith. An explanation of this phenomenon can be found in the article lunar illusion.

Another interesting optical effect is that Moon seems to us almost completely white, although in fact, it reflects only 7% of the sunlight falling on its surface (about the same as coal). Because of Moon is the only object in the sky of this size illuminated by reflected sunlight, and an optical illusion occurs and Moon looks white to us.

Also Moon can be the cause of various atmospheric effects, as well as the Sun. For example, when observing the Moon, when there is a thin layer of clouds between the observer and the Moon, we can observe the halo effect.

moon illusion

The moon illusion is an optical illusion where the moon seen near the horizon appears larger than the moon seen high in the sky. The same optical illusion occurs when observing the Sun.

A typical erroneous explanation for this effect is the assumption that the Earth's atmosphere plays the role of a kind of lens that increases the apparent diameter of the Moon.

The proof that the observed effect is only an optical illusion can be photographs taken with the same camera settings, in such photographs the size of the Moon will be the same regardless of where it is Moon: high in the sky or near the horizon.

There are several different theories to explain this effect.

According to one of these theories, which, however, is currently considered obsolete. the visual part of the human brain sees the sky not as a hemisphere, which it really is, but as a plane. When we observe clouds, birds, or planes in the sky, they appear smaller to the observer when they are close to the horizon than when they are overhead, as the apparent size of objects decreases with increasing distance. The moon, unlike terrestrial objects, when it is near the horizon, has approximately the same apparent angular diameter as when it is at the zenith, but the human brain, trying to compensate for perspective distortions, sees the disk of the moon more than it actually is. This effect is called the Emmert effect: when two objects have the same apparent size, but one object farther away from the observer appears larger.

According to the theory of "relative size", which is currently accepted by most scientists, the visual size of the object of observation depends primarily on the size of other objects that we observe simultaneously. Thus, when we observe the Moon close to the horizon, other objects also fall into our field of view, against the background of which, the Moon seems larger than it actually is.

History of lunar exploration

Research Moon with the help of spacecraft began on September 14, 1959 with the collision of the automatic station Luna 2 with the surface of our satellite. Up to this point, the only method of lunar exploration was lunar observation. The invention of the telescope by Galileo in 1609 was a great milestone in astronomy, in particular in observing the moon. Galileo himself used his telescope to study mountains and craters on the lunar surface.

Lunokhod Since the start of the space race between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War, the Moon has been at the center of space programs for both the USSR and the USA. From the US point of view, the landing of a man on the moon in 1969 was the culmination of the lunar race. On the other hand, many significant scientific milestones were passed by the Soviet Union before the United States. For example, the first photographs of the far side of the moon were taken by a Soviet satellite in 1959.

The first man-made object to reach the Moon was the Soviet Luna 2 station. The far side of the Moon was photographed by the Luna 3 station on October 7, 1959. After these and other achievements of the USSR in space exploration, US President John F. Kennedy formulated the main task of the United States in space as landing on the moon.

Despite all the efforts of the United States, the Soviet Union remained a leader in lunar exploration for a long time. The Luna 9 station was the first to make a soft landing on the surface of our natural satellite. After landing, Luna 9 transmitted the first photographs of the lunar surface. As a result of the landing of Luna 9, the possibility of a safe landing on the Moon was proved. This was especially important because until that moment it was believed that the surface of the Moon consists of a layer of dust, which can be several meters thick and any object would simply “drown” in this layer of dust. The first artificial satellite of the Moon was also the Soviet station Luna 10, launched on March 31, 1966.

Apollo 11 The American manned lunar exploration program was called Apollo. It brought its first practical result on December 24, 1968, from the Apollo 8 flyby of the moon. Mankind first set foot on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969. The first man to leave his mark on the moon was Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. The first automatic robot on the surface of the moon was the Soviet Lunokhod 1, which landed on November 17, 1970. The last man walked on the moon in 1972.

Samples of lunar rock were delivered to Earth as part of the Soviet Luna program by automatic stations Luna 16, 20 and 24. Also, samples of lunar rock were delivered to Earth by astronauts of the Apollo mission.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, 65 man-made objects reached the lunar surface. But after Luna 26, lunar exploration actually ceased. The Soviet Union switched their research to Venus and the US to Mars.

The latest exploration of the moon

Japan launched its research probe to the moon. The Hiten probe entered lunar orbit, thus Japan became the third country to successfully launch to the moon. True, due to technical problems, this mission was not carried out in full.

NASA launched the Clementine mission in 1994 and the Lunar Prospector in 1998.

In 2003, the European Space Agency launched the SMART 1 space probe to the Moon, the main task of which was to take pictures of the Moon's surface in the X-ray and infrared ranges.

Future plans for the exploration of the moon

On January 14, 2004, US President George W. Bush unveiled a new US space exploration program. One of the stages of this program will be the return of a man to the moon before 2020. The first result of this program should be the launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance satellite.

Published on 02.03.15 10:52

Astronomers claim that the planet Earth has a second satellite in the shape of a horseshoe.

According to scientists, the Moon is not the only satellite of our planet. The second natural satellite of the Earth was named Cruini, and its main distinguishing feature is the fact that it completes a complete revolution around the Earth in 789 years, writes PlanetToday.

The new moon Cruitney was discovered on October 10, 1986 by British amateur astronomer Duncan Waldron. Duncan noticed him in a picture from the Schmidt telescope. Interestingly, Cruitney's orbit is not quite familiar to our intcbatch understanding - so, the satellite moves around the entire solar system in a horseshoe-shaped orbit, while approaching Venus, Mars, the Sun and Mercury. However, such an orbit is not a surprise to scientists, because Saturn also has three satellites with a similar orbit.

A satellite cannot approach our planet closer than 30 million kilometers, which is 30 times further than the distance to the moon. It takes Cruitney about 789 years to complete its orbit.

Astronomers report that the diameter of the second satellite is only five kilometers. According to calculations, Cruitney will be able to approach the Earth as close as possible in 2 thousand years. Collision is not predicted.