Moon (lat. Luna) - the only one natural satellite 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. The mistress of the night sky has always attracted human attention. Numerous signs, rituals, and beliefs of people are associated with it. Many lunar secrets have already been revealed. However, interesting facts about the Moon, which scientists cannot unambiguously explain, continue to excite people’s minds.
The moon appeared as a result of a collision. Scientists believe that the Moon was formed from debris from the Earth and a space object the size of Mars after their collision.
2. 206 thousand 264 Moons
In order for it to be as light at night as during the day, about three hundred thousand moons would be needed, and 206 thousand 264 moons would have to be in the full moon phase.
3. People always see the same side of the moon
People always see the same side of the Moon. The Earth's gravitational field slows down the Moon's rotation around its axis. Therefore, the rotation of the Moon around its axis occurs in the same time as its rotation around the Earth.
4. The far side of the moon
The far side of the Moon is more mountainous compared to the one visible from Earth. This is explained by the force of gravity of the Earth, which has led to a thinner crust on the side facing our planet.
5. Moon Tree Seeds
More than 400 trees growing on Earth were brought from the Moon. The seeds of these trees were taken by the crew of Apollo 14 in 1971, orbited the Moon and returned to Earth.
6. Asteroid Cruithney
The Earth may have other natural satellites. The Cruithney asteroid moves in orbital resonance with the Earth and makes full turn around the planet in 770 years.
7. Craters on the surface of the Moon
Craters on the surface of the Moon were left by meteorites 4.1 - 3.8 billion years ago. They are still visible only because, geologically, the Moon is not as active as the Earth.
8. There is water on the moon
There is water on the moon. The Earth satellite has no atmosphere, but does have frozen water in shadowed craters and beneath the soil surface.
9. The moon is not a perfect ball
The moon is not actually a perfect sphere. It is rather egg-shaped due to the influence of Earth's gravity. In addition, its center of mass is not in the center of the cosmic body, but approximately two kilometers away from the center.
10. Crater named...
The lunar craters were first named after famous scientists, artists and explorers, and later after the names of American and Russian cosmonauts.
11. Moonquakes
On the Earth's satellite there are... moonquakes. They are caused by the gravitational influence of the Earth. Their epicenter is located several kilometers below the surface of the Moon.
12. Exosphere
The moon has an atmosphere called the exosphere. It consists of helium, neon and argon.
13. Dancing Dust
There is dancing dust on the Moon. It hovers above the surface of the Moon (more intensely at sunrise or sunset). Dust particles rise upward due to electromagnetic forces.
The Earth's satellite is more like a planet. The Earth and Moon are a double planet system, similar to the Pluto + Charon system.
15. The moon causes the tides on Earth
The moon causes the ebb and flow of the tides on Earth. The Moon's gravitational pull affects our planet's oceans. The most high tides occur during a full or new moon.
16. The Moon is moving away from the Earth
The Moon is moving further and further away from the Earth. Initially, the Earth's satellite was 22,000 kilometers from its surface, and now it is almost 400,000 kilometers away.
The mistress of the night sky has always attracted human attention. Numerous signs, rituals, and beliefs of people are associated with it. Many lunar secrets have already been revealed. However, interesting facts about the Moon, which scientists cannot unambiguously explain, continue to excite people’s minds.
- For the first time, areas on the Moon began to be sold to the American by The Lunar Embassy, founded by Dennis Hope, at a price of $20 per acre (approximately 4046 sq.m.). This American, having studied the UN Convention on Outer Space, concluded that it does not contain a single instruction banning the ownership of stars and planets by private individuals. In 1980 he proclaimed himself the owner of the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Io, Venus and began trading in “star” areas.
- Christopher Columbus, during his 4th expedition, used a total lunar eclipse to save his crew from starvation. It happened in America on February 29. The Indians of Jamaica, where the travelers were forced to spend a year, over time began to supply them with provisions worse. To frighten the aborigines, on the day of the eclipse, Columbus announced to them the wrath of the gods for their negligence and went to the ship’s cabin “to pray for forgiveness.” At the end of the eclipse, he announced that the Indians were forgiven. Food supplies have been resumed.
- The only person buried on the Moon is the famous American astronomer and geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Health problems prevented him from making interplanetary flights. After his death, his ashes were transported in a capsule by the Lunar Prospector interplanetary research station to the Moon in 1998.
- Due to the low gravity on the Earth's satellite, fine and hard lunar dust with the smell of gunpowder can penetrate everywhere. In astronauts it caused symptoms similar to hay fever. Penetrating into spacesuits and shoes, it significantly damaged them.
- The bloody "queen of the night" happens during full lunar eclipse
. During this period, the Earth is on the same line between the Moon and the Sun. Light waves red spectrum (as the longest) sunlight, refracted in the earth’s atmosphere, give the “night sun” a crimson hue.
- The night luminary does not have its own magnetic field
. However, the stones brought by the astronauts, nevertheless, magnetic properties possess. Where does this paradox come from? Scientists put forward 2 theories about this: the magnetic field disappeared due to the movement of the iron core of the Moon and its collision with meteorites.
- There are moonquakes on the moon, however, compared to earthly ones, they are very weak. Their maximum rating was 5.5 points on the Richter scale. The causes of lunar “earthquakes” have not yet been clarified.
- The “Fallen Astronaut” monument, measuring only 8 cm (by Paul Van Heijdonk), was erected on August 1, 1971. at the landing site of the Apollo 15 crew. The plaque next to it contains the names of 14 fallen space explorers. Among them is Yu. Gagarin.
- A "blue moon" is the second full moon in calendar month
. It is observed once every 2.7154 years. The name of this event is determined not only by the color of the night star, but also by the translation of the English idiom “once in a Blue Moon”. In the Russian version, this corresponds to “after the rain on Thursday” (not soon or never).
- The difference in daily temperatures on the Moon ranges from -100°С to +160°С. On Earth, the record daily temperature drop occurred on January 23, 1916 in America (Montana): from +6.7 to -48.8 degrees Celsius.
- It became possible to see the far side of the earth's satellite only after October 7, 1959. On this day the Soviet space station Luna 3 took its first photograph.
- Dark spots on the surface of the Moon that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye are called maria. They are lowlands, the bottom of which is filled with dark solidified lava. There is no water in them. The first time a person set foot on the Moon was on the territory of the Sea of Tranquility on July 21, 1969.
- There are many craters on the moon. The giant among them is Hertzsprung, reaching a diameter of 591 km. He is on dark side The moon, so it is not visible from Earth. On visible side The largest crater on the Moon belongs to the Bayi crater (287 km).
- Where is the “far away kingdom, thirtieth state” familiar from children’s fairy tales located?? By simple calculations we get 3*9=27, 3*10=30. The first number is the sidereal period of the Moon's revolution around the Earth. 30 days is its synodic period (relative to the Sun).
- The Moon is moving away from the Earth by 4 cm per year. As a result, its orbit is not a circle, but a smoothly increasing spiral.
Our planet, unlike many others, has only one natural satellite that can be observed in the sky at night - this, of course, is the Moon. If you do not take into account the Sun, then this particular object is the brightest that can be observed from Earth.
Among the other satellites of the planets, the satellite of planet Earth ranks fifth in size. It has no atmosphere, no lakes and rivers. Day and night replace each other here every two weeks, and you can observe a temperature difference of three hundred degrees. And it is always turned to us with only one side, leaving its dark reverse side in mysteries. This pale blue object in the night sky is the Moon.
The lunar surface is covered with a layer of regolith (black sandy dust), which reaches up to different areas thickness from several meters to several tens. Lunar sand regolith arises from the constant fall of meteorites and crushing in a state of vacuum, unprotected by cosmic rays.
The surface of the Moon is uneven with many craters of varying sizes. On the Moon there are both plains and entire mountains, lined up in a chain, the height of the mountains is up to 6 kilometers. there is an assumption that more than 900 million years ago there was volcanic activity on the Moon, this is evidenced by the found particles of soil, the formation of which could be as a result of eruptions.
The surface on the Moon itself is very dark, despite the fact that on a moonlit night we can clearly see the Moon in the night sky. The lunar surface reflects just over seven percent of the sun's rays. Even from the Earth you can observe spots on its surface, which, according to an ancient erroneous judgment, retained the name “sea”.
Moon and planet Earth
The Moon always faces planet Earth with one side. On this side visible from Earth most occupy flat spaces called seas. Seas on the Moon occupy about sixteen percent total area and are giant craters that appeared after collisions with other cosmic bodies. The other side of the Moon, hidden from Earth, is almost completely dotted with mountain ranges and craters from small to huge sizes.
The influence of the cosmic object closest to us, the Moon, also extends to the Earth. So, typical example are the ebbs and flows of the seas, which arise due to the gravitational attraction of the satellite.
Origin of the Moon
By various studies There are many differences between the Moon and the Earth, primarily in chemical composition: The Moon has virtually no water, relatively low volatile element content, low density compared to Earth, and a small core of iron and nickel.
Nevertheless, radiometric analysis, which determines the age of celestial objects if they contain radioactive isotope, showed that the Moon is the same age as the Earth, 4.5 billion years. The ratio of stable oxygen isotopes of the two celestial objects coincides, despite the fact that for all studied meteorites such ratios have strong differences. This suggests that both the Moon and the Earth in the distant past were formed from the same substance, located at the same distance from the Sun in a pre-planetary cloud.
Based general age, combinations of similar properties with a strong difference between two close objects solar system There are 3 hypotheses for the origin of the Moon:
- 1. Formation of both the Earth and the Moon from one pre-planetary cloud
- 2. Capture of the already formed object Moon by the Earth’s gravity
- 3. The formation of the Moon as a result of a collision with the Earth of a large space object comparable in size to the planet Mars.
The pale blue moon, the Earth's satellite, has been studied since ancient times. For example, among the Greeks the thoughts of Archimedes on this subject are especially famous. He described in detail the Moon with its characteristics and possible properties Galileo. He saw plains on the surface of the Moon that looked like “seas,” mountains and craters. And in 1651, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Riccioli created a map of the Moon, where he described in detail the lunar landscape of the surface visible from the Earth and introduced designations for many parts of the lunar relief.
In the 20th century, interest in the Moon increased with the help of new technological capabilities for exploring the Earth's satellite. So on February 3, 1966, the first person to land on the surface of the Moon was soft landing Soviet spacecraft Luna-9. The next Luna-10 spacecraft became the first artificial satellite The moon, and very little time later, on July 21, 1969, man visited the moon for the first time. There came a series of many discoveries in the field of selenography and selenology, which were made by Soviet scientists and their American colleagues from NASA. Then, by the end of the 20th century, interest in the Moon gradually subsided.
(photograph reverse side Moons, landing vehicle "Chang'e-4")
On January 3, 2019, the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e-4 successfully landed on the surface of the far side of the moon, this side is constantly facing away from the light emitted by the Earth and is invisible from the surface of the planet. For the first time, the far side of the lunar surface was photographed by the Soviet Luna-3 station on October 27, 1959, and more than half a century later, at the beginning of 2019, the Chinese Chang'e-4 spacecraft landed on the surface far from the Earth.
Colonization on the Moon
Many writers and science fiction writers, along with the planet Mars, consider the Moon as an object for future human colonization. Despite the fact that this is more like fiction, the American agency NASA has seriously thought about this issue, setting the task of developing the Constellation program to resettle people on Lunar surface with the construction of a real space base on the Moon and the development of “inter-Earth-lunar” space travel. However, this program was suspended by the decision of US President Barack Obama due to high funding.
Robot Avatars on the Moon
However, in 2011 NASA again proposed new program, this time called “Avatars,” which required the development and production of robotic avatars on Earth, which would then be delivered to the Earth’s satellite, the Moon, in order to further simulate human living in lunar conditions with the effect of telepresence. That is, the robotic avatar will be controlled by a person from Earth, fully dressed in a suit that will simulate his presence on the Moon as a robotic avatar located in real conditions on the lunar surface.
Big Moon Illusion
When the Moon is low above the Earth's horizon, the illusion arises that its size is larger than it actually is. At the same time, the real angular size of the Moon does not change; on the contrary, the closer it is to the horizon, the angular size decreases slightly. Unfortunately, this effect is difficult to explain and most likely refers to an error in visual perception.
Are there seasons on the Moon?
Both on Earth and on any other planet, the change of seasons occurs from the inclination of its axis of rotation, while the intensity of the change of seasons depends on the location of the plane of the planet’s orbit, be it a satellite around the Sun.
The Moon has an inclination of its rotation axis to the ecliptic plane of 88.5°, almost perpendicular. Therefore, on the Moon, on the one hand, there is almost eternal day, on the other hand, almost eternal night. This means that the temperature in each part of the lunar surface is also different and practically unchanged. At the same time, there can be no talk of a change of seasons on the Moon, much more due to the simple absence of an atmosphere.
Why do dogs bark at the moon?
There is no clear explanation for this phenomenon, but most likely, according to some scientists, it is the animal’s fear of an effect similar to a Solar Eclipse that causes fear in many animals. The vision of dogs and wolves is very weak and they perceive the Moon on a cloudless night as the Sun, confusing night with day. Weak Moonlight and the moon itself is perceived by them as a dim Sun, and therefore, seeing the Moon, they behave in the same way as during a Solar eclipse, howl and bark.
Lunar capitalism
In Nikolai Nosov’s fairy-tale novel “Dunno on the Moon,” the Moon is a satellite, possibly of artificial origin, where inside there is the whole city- a stronghold of the modern capitalist system. Interestingly, children's story not so much it seems fantastic, but rather socio-political, which does not lose relevance in modern times, interesting for both children and adults.
The Moon is the closest cosmic body to us, the most visible object in the night sky. It is not surprising that it is also the most studied and the only one on whose surface a human foot has stepped. However, it cannot be said that everything is known about the Moon. She still hasn't revealed some of her secrets. Some interesting facts about the Moon have a generally accepted explanation, but periodically receive an alternative interpretation.
Characteristics of the night light
The Moon is the only satellite of our planet. It makes one revolution around the Earth in approximately 27.32 days. In this case, the satellite’s orbit has a somewhat elongated shape. The average distance that separates us from the night star is just under 400 thousand kilometers. The most significant facts about the Moon for children are, perhaps, the change of phases and the fact that you can fly to it. Adult amateur astronomers of all times and peoples were interested in its origin, its influence on the Earth’s weather and on the destinies of people.
Legends of the Moon
The Earth's satellite is the hero of many myths. Some of them explain the appearance of the Moon in the sky, others tell what caused the change of phases. Almost all peoples, among others, honored the personification of the Moon, god or goddess. IN Greek mythology it was, first of all, Selene, whose name was later given to the science that studies the Earth’s satellite (selenology).
Legends about the Moon, which explained why it was sometimes full and sometimes turned into a month, were often associated with tragic events in the life of the luminary. Among the Balts, the formidable thunder god Perkunas punished the Moon for betraying the beautiful Sun by cutting her into pieces. In Siberia, there is a well-known myth about how the night luminary descended to Earth and was caught by an evil witch. The sun tried to snatch the moon from the witch's hands, but as a result she was torn into two parts.
There were also numerous stories that explained the clearly visible spots on the face of the star. For some peoples this is a man exiled as punishment, for others it is a beast living on the moon.
Amazing coincidence
Many legends explain and solar eclipses. Today, when listing interesting facts about the Moon, its role in this phenomenon is often omitted as generally known. However, it is the eclipse that clearly demonstrates one curious point: the combination of the distance from the Sun to the Moon and from the night luminary to the Earth and the size of the Moon seem to be specially selected. If the incarnation of the ancient Greek Selene was located a little further or closer, or if its size were different, we would either not know what a total eclipse is, or we would not have the opportunity to admire solar corona. The moon “hangs” in such a way that the daylight is periodically completely placed behind it, showing only a beautiful frame.
Moreover, it is surprising numeric values parameters: the distance from the Earth to the Moon is, as already noted, approximately 400 thousand kilometers, and this is 400 times less than to the Sun, and the night star itself is also 400 times smaller than the day star. These facts about the Moon are often used as evidence for the theory of its artificial origin.
Hypothesis
A similar opinion was expressed by Mikhail Vasin and Soviet scientists in the 60s of the last century. They supported their theory with information that all the craters, which cover the surface of the satellite in great numbers, have approximately the same depth, regardless of their area - no more than three kilometers. This may be due to the presence of a solid structure located under the surface of the night star.
Today, in various articles on the Internet, the hypothesis about artificial origin The satellite is included in a list called “Secret Facts about the Moon.” However, it is generally accepted this moment is considered a theory that assumes an “earthly beginning.” According to it, approximately 4.5 billion years ago our planet collided with a space object similar in size to Mars. He knocked out a piece of matter, which later became a satellite. The dispute, however, has not yet been raised last point: The available information is not yet enough to confidently say that everything happened in this way.
Multicolored
One of the American astronauts, looking at the Moon from the window for the first time spaceship, compared its surface to sand on a dirty beach. From Earth, the satellite doesn't look so sad. Interesting Facts about the Moon are also related to its visible color.
Most of the time the month is ash-gray, but history knows of cases when blue Moon. Color is associated with the appearance of an additional “filter” that prevents the passage of light rays. This is possible during extensive fires or volcanic eruptions. Particles that are large compared to air molecules allow light waves to scatter, corresponding in length to blue color and its shades. Such a case was recorded in 1950, when, as a result of a fire in the peatlands, a blue Moon hung over Albert (a province in Canada).
Two full moons
The expression “blue moon” has another meaning. Since the night star goes through all its phases in less than 28 days, sometimes there are two full moons in one month. The second was called the “blue moon”. The phenomenon occurs slightly less frequently than once every 2.72 years. The closest one will be in July 2015: the first full moon is on the 2nd, and the blue moon is on the 31st.
Bloody
The most interesting things about the Moon and its color in the coming year can be learned by looking at the sky on April 4 and September 28. These days it will rise blood moon. The satellite acquires such an ominous hue due to the refraction of the Sun’s rays in the Earth’s atmosphere. The glow of the Moon, in principle, always represents the reflected radiation of the daylight. The difference these days is that the full moon coincides with sunset or sunrise. Red is the very color in which the daylight appears before us, sinking below the horizon or rising above it.
Double reflected
Another phenomenon is associated with the emitted light, not uncommon, but interesting. Everyone has known about the Moon since childhood: it sequentially goes through 4 phases and only in one of them, on the full moon, can you admire the completely illuminated satellite. However, it also happens that a month hangs in the sky, and sometimes the entire disk is visible and quite clearly. This is the so-called ashen light of the Moon. The phenomenon occurs either some time before the new moon or shortly after it. The satellite, illuminated only in a small part of itself, is nevertheless completely visible, since part of the sunlight is first scattered in the earth's atmosphere, then falls on the surface of the Moon, and then is reflected again on our planet.
Based on the characteristics of the satellite’s ashen light, predictions are made about changes weather conditions. The possibility of predictions exists due to the connection of the optical phenomenon with the nature of cloudiness in that part of the Earth that is currently illuminated by the Sun. In European Russia, the bright ashen light, which results from the reflection of rays from cyclonic activity in the Atlantic, heralds precipitation in about a week.
Farther and farther
Interesting facts about the Moon are not limited to optical phenomena. Another interesting point is connected with its distance from Earth. The satellite is getting further and further from our planet every year. Over twelve months, the distance increases by 4 cm. The removal of the satellite is a consequence of the gravitational-tidal interaction between it and our planet. The Moon is known to cause tides on Earth, not only on the water, but also in the crust, less noticeable in amplitude, but with a much longer wavelength. They, in turn, influence the satellite: due to some features of our planet around its axis tidal waves slightly ahead of the satellite. As a result, everything contained in such waves affects the movement of the satellite, attracting it and causing it to orbit the planet faster. This is the reason for the change in its distance from the Earth.
Bright memory
There was a time when scientists, due to lack of data, had little understanding of Unknown facts of that period ceased to be a secret thanks to successful flights spacecraft with astronauts on board. However, those studying the satellite were not always lucky. Some of the astronauts died during flight preparations. A tiny monument, only 8 cm high, was erected to him on the Moon. Attached to it is a list of all the astronauts who gave their lives in the name of science.
Eternity
Both this monument and the traces of the astronauts who walked on the surface of the Moon, as well as a photo of relatives left by one of the crew members, will remain intact on the Moon for many centuries. The satellite of our planet has no atmosphere, there is no wind and water. Nothing can cause traces of human presence to quickly turn to dust.
Near future
NASA is making ambitious plans to develop the satellite. In 2010, the Avatar project appeared, which involved the creation of special robots equipped with a human telepresence function. If the project is implemented, scientists will not need to fly to the Moon. To study its features, it will be enough to put on a special remote presence suit, and all the necessary manipulations will be performed by a robot delivered to the satellite.
View of the Earth
The moon always faces us with the same side. The reason for this is the synchronization of the satellite's orbital movement and its rotation around the Earth. One of the most memorable sights that American astronauts saw when they set foot on the surface of the Moon was the view of Earth. Our planet occupies a significant part of the satellite sky. Moreover, the Earth hangs motionless, always in the same place, but first one side or the other is visible. Over time, as a result of the same gravitational-tidal interaction, the rotation of our planet around its axis is synchronized with the movement of the Moon in its orbit. The satellite will “freeze”, stop moving across the sky, and the Earth will “look” at it with only one side. At the same time, the distance separating the two cosmic bodies will stop increasing.
These are 10 interesting facts about the Moon. The list, however, is not exhausted by them. Reappeared in last years interest in the satellite will still bear fruit, and the already existing facts about the Moon, partially mentioned in the article, will be replenished.
It is likely that one of them will be a base on the Moon, which is planned to be created for the development of mineral resources, observation of earthly processes and, of course, the satellite itself.
The Moon is the only satellite of our planet, and also so far the first and only celestial object visited by man, not taking into account the Earth. Since ancient times, many legends and myths, beliefs and superstitions have revolved around it. Scientists continue to explore it, diligently discovering new features, but many mysteries have not yet been solved. All the most interesting facts about the moon we have combined them into one list.
1. On the Moon, gravity is several times lower than on Earth, so the first astronauts who landed on it experienced big problems. They took into account everything except the fine lunar dust, which managed to penetrate even into their spacesuits. Not only did it damage their protective suit, but it also significantly affected their bodies, causing something very similar to a fever.
2. It was possible to establish that there is water on the Moon. The presence of life, oxygen and atmosphere is out of the question, but water is present in frozen form. It is found in some deep craters and in places beneath the surface of its topsoil.
3. In 1998, a brilliant astronomer named Eugene Shoemaker passed away. Because of serious problems health problems, during his lifetime he was never allowed to leave the Earth on board the shuttle and fly into space, which he had always dreamed of. After his death, Shoemaker became the first and so far only one whose ashes were scattered on the Moon.
4. There are earthquakes on Earth, and on its satellite, accordingly, there are moonquakes. Scientists identify four varieties of this process, three of which they have found explanations for. But what causes the fourth type - fluctuations that reach 5.6 points, is still difficult to answer. If there is on Earth tectonic plates, then our satellite does not have them. There is a theory that this gravity affects the Moon, but it is not confirmed by anything.
5. The first 5 interesting facts about the Moon are closed by its temperature fluctuations. Here, in a day from -100 degrees, the indicators can rise to +150 degrees. For example, on our home planet, the sharpest jump was observed in the distant winter of 1916, when one of the American states where the temperature from +7 dropped sharply to -49 degrees.
6. Our only satellite causes the ebb and flow of the tides. Its gravitational field influences oceans, seas and rivers throughout the Earth. The highest tides can be observed during the full moon or new moon.
7. We always see only one side of the Moon. It rotates around its axis at the same speed as around the Earth, so for a long time no one suspected what its other side looked like. The first images were obtained only in 1959 thanks to one of the Soviet stations cosmic in nature.
8. The satellite of our planet has a huge amount craters that appeared as a result of falling meteorites. The largest of them is Hertzsprung, whose diameter is almost 590 kilometers. Largest quantity The craters are located on the far side of the Moon, and this is explained by the fact that the Earth attracts the smoother part of its surface.
9. Scientists have found that every year the cosmic body closest to us moves away from us. At the very beginning, the satellite was at a distance of 22 thousand km from the Earth, but now this number has increased to 440 thousand km.
10. Interesting fact - one day on the Moon is equal to almost a whole month on our planet. Exactly 29 days pass from one sunrise to the next.
