Moon/Natural Satellite –
The Moon is our Earth’s natural satellite and the closest celestial body that we can see every day in the night sky. It is a celestial body that revolves around the Earth in an orbit. It is one of the largest celestial bodies in our solar system. Asteroids are made up of small pieces of dirt, rocks and other debris that have been impacted by meteorites.
Since the Moon has no air, meteorites do not burn up before hitting the ground. There is no life on the moon because there is no air. American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon in 1969. In this article, we will learn more about the Moon and its many features.
What is the moon? –
The Moon appears larger in the sky because it is closer to us than any other celestial body. Stars appear smaller than the Moon because they are farther away from us than the Moon, its celestial neighbour. The gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon are the same in orbit around the Earth. The moon changes its shape every night in different phases including 4 phases.
Moon’s movement –
The Moon always moves at the speed of the Earth. Since the Moon is only one side of Earth at a time, we can only see one side of Earth at a time. The orbital distance of the Moon is about 384,402 km. (km) or 1.28 photo seconds. The gravitational effect of the Moon on the oceans affects the tides.
Origin of Moon –
Origin of the Moon It is generally believed that a Martian body struck Earth, forming a ring of debris that eventually collected into a natural satellite, the Moon, but there are many variations on this giant impact hypothesis, as well as alternative explanations and How the Moon was released in research. Other proposed conditions include capture bodies, fragmentation, aggregating together (condensation theory), planetary collisions (formed from asteroid-like bodies), and collision theory.
The standard giant-impact hypothesis states a Mars-sized body, called Theia, impacted Earth, creating a large debris ring around Earth, which then entered the Moon. The collision also produced a 23.5-degree tilt of the Earth’s axis, which produced weather. The Moon’s oxygen isotope ratios appear to be essentially the same as those of Earth.
The oxygen Isotope ratio, which can be measured very precisely, produces a unique and distinctive signature for each Solar System body. If Theia was a separate protoplanet, it probably would have had a different oxygen isotope signature from Earth, as would a different composite of matter. In addition, the Moon’s titanium isotope ratio (50Ti/47Ti) appears to be close to that of Earth (within 4 ppm), if at least the mass of any colliding body that could be part of the Moon.
Internal structure –
The Moon is a differentiated celestial body, which geochemically consists of three parts: the crust, mantle and core. The Moon has a solid iron-rich inner core that is 240 kilometres wide, and the outer part of this inner core is composed of liquid iron with a radius of about 300 kilometres. The core is surrounded by a partially molten crust with a radius of 500 km.
Phases of the moon –
The Moon appears in different phases according to the time of year. The Moon orbits around the Earth and is constantly illuminated by sunlight. The phases of the Moon repeat every 29.5 days. The eight major phases or phases of the Moon are as follows:
• New Moon –
Amavasya occurs when the moon is not visible to us. We see the half-unpainted side of the Moon at this time. It begins when the Moon is exactly between the Sun and the Earth. A solar eclipse occurs only on the new moon.
• Waxing Crescent Moon –
When the moon resembles a crescent moon in appearance, it is known as a waxing crescent moon. The Moon increases in size every day by “waxes”. Usually, this phase is visible only in the west.
• First Quarter Moon –
Also known as the crescent moon, the first quarter phase of the moon appears only when half of the moon is visible to us. This waxing comes after the crescent phase, usually a week after the new moon.
• Waxing Gibbous Moon –
A waxing gibbous moon is seen when more than half of the Moon’s area is visible. In this phase, the size of the moon increases from day to day. The waxing gibbous phase occurs between the first-trimester phase and the full moon.
• Full Moon –
When the entire illuminated area of the Moon is visible to us from Earth, then we are observing the full Moon. This occurs when the Moon is located opposite the Earth from the Sun.
• Waning Gibbous Moon –
This lunar phase occurs only when more than half the area of the Moon illuminated by the Sun is visible. The size of the Moon at this point varies from day to day. This phase occurs between the full moon and the third quarter of the moon.
• Last Quarter Moon –
Half of the Moon is visible to us after the diminishing lunar phase of the last quarter.
• Waning Crescent Moon –
Here, in this phase, the Moon looks like a crescent which decreases in size every day.
• Lunar Month –
Only one side of the Moon is visible to us, the other side is known as the far side or the dark side because it does not face the Earth at any point in time. The reason behind this is that the Moon takes almost the same amount of time to revolve around the Earth as it takes to rotate on its own axis. This is due to a known phenomenon called tidal locking. We did not observe the dark side of the Moon until 1959 when a photograph of it was taken by the Soviet space probe – Luna 3.
By Chanchal Sailani | November 02, 2022, | Editor at Gurugrah_Blogs
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