Topography of the Moon

A. Craters South Pole Aitken basin = most visible topographic feature, the giant far side, some 2,240 km in diameter, the largest crater on the Moon and the largest known crater in the Solar System Tycho = famous crater which could be observed before full moon; named after Tycho Brahe o Rays = bright streaks which radiate from certain craters B. Volcanic Features Maria (Latin for "seas"; singular mare) = the dark and relatively featureless lunar plains which can clearly be seen with the naked eye; known to be vast solidified pools of ancient basaltic lava; = cover approximately 40 % of the Moon's visible hemisphere Oceanus Procellarum = largest of the maria is, an oval-shaped plain on the near side of the Moon 2,500 km by 1,500 km wide.

Earth's only natural satellite fifth largest satellite in the Solar System a quarter the diameter of Earth and 181 its mass second brightest object in Earths sky

Name and etymology

derived from the Latin Luna/ Diana [Greeks] Old English mona (dating from before 725) mone (1135) moone (around 1380) moon

Formation
Moon's formation was 4.527 0.010 billion years ago, some 3050 million years after the origin of the Solar System; (3) Three theories of Moons Origin Fission from Earth Model Formation Far from Earth Model Giant Impact Model

[The far side generally lacks the maria] Terrae = the lighter-coloured regions of the Moon or more commonly highlands, since they are higher than most maria Rilles = trenches or crevices

Internal Structure
has a solid iron-rich inner core with a radius of 240 km; a fluid outer core primarily made of liquid iron with a radius of roughly 330 km surrounded by a partially molten boundary layer with a radius of about 480 km; a mafic mantle (1000 km) composed of the minerals olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene; a thin plagioclase rich crust (70 km)

a. Sinuous rilles are meandering channels that are probably lava drainage channels or collapsed lava tubes formed by large lava flows. b. Straight rilles are large shallow troughs caused by movement of the Moons crust;

Domes = small rounded features that range from 8 to 16 km (5 to

10 mi) in diameter and from 60 to 90 m (200 to 300 ft) in height; thought to be small inactive volcanoes;

C. Ice Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft (2008) confirmed the existence of surface water ice, using the on-board Moon Mineralogy Mapper.

Magnetic Field
no global magnetic field as does Earth has small, local magnetic fields that seem to be strongest in areas that are on opposite hemispheres from large basins (the origin of these local magnetic fields is unknown)

Waxing= proceeds from new to full

Eclipses
can only occur when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are all in a straight line; o Solar Eclipse= occur near a new Moon; Moon is between the Sun and the Earth and its shadow moves across the face of the Earth o Lunar Eclipse= occur near a full Moon; the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon and its shadow darkens the Moon Total Solar Eclipse= Moon completely blocks out the Sun for as long as seven to eight minutes; Total Lunar Eclipse= when the Moon passes completely into the umbra of the Earths shadow; Partial Solar Eclipse= when part of the Earth is within the penumbra, or the outer portion of the Moons shadow; Partial Lunar Eclipse= occurs when only a part of the Moon enters the umbra of the Earths shadow, leaving a portion of the Moon in total darkness; Because the Moon's orbit around the Earth is inclined by about 5 to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, eclipses do not occur at every full and new Moon.

Gravitational Influence of Moon -- Tides

tides on the Earth are mostly generated by the gradient in intensity of the Moon's gravitational pull from one side of the Earth to the other Neap Tide = the difference between high tides and low tides is reduced; during first & last quarters; Spring tide = high tide is at its highest and the low tide is at its lowest; during new & full moon;

o o o o

Moon seen from Earth

Moon is in synchronous rotation with the Earth; side of the Moon that faces Earth is called the near side, and the opposite side the far side Moon rises about 50 minutes later every day; Moon does appear larger when close to the horizon, but this is a purely psychological effect, known as the Moon illusion Moon has an exceptionally low albedo but still is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun

Phases of the Moon

The appearance of the Moon from Earth depends on the relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun.
o o o o o o New Moon= near side is completely in shadow; Full moon= fully lighted near side; Crescent= less than half illuminated Quarter= luminous half-circle Gibbous= more than half illuminated Waning= progresses from full to new

Lunar Exploration
1609= Galileo Galilei drew one of the first telescopic drawings of the Moon in his book Sidereus Nuncius and noted that it was not smooth but had mountains and craters. Soviet Union's Luna program (1959): o Luna 1 =the first man-made object to escape Earth's gravity and pass near the Moon o Luna 2 =first man-made object to impact the lunar surface o Luna 3 =made the first photographs of the normally occluded far side of the Moon

Luna 10 (1966) =the first unmanned vehicle to orbit the Moon NASA's manned Apollo program: o Apollo 8 (1968 )= made the first crewed mission to lunar orbit o Apollo 11 (21 July 1969)= landing of the first humans on the Moon; Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon as the commander of the American mission by first setting foot on the Moon; o Apollo missions 11 to 17 =(except Apollo 13, which aborted its planned lunar landing) returned 382 kg of lunar rock and soil; 1994= joint Defense Department/NASA spacecraft Clementine mission obtained the first near-global topographic map of the Moon, and the first global multispectral images of the lunar surface; o 1998 = Lunar Prospector mission, mapped the gravitational field of the Moon, determined the distribution of radioactive elements in its crust, and found additional evidence that could indicate the presence of ice at the lunar poles; 2003 =European spacecraft SMART-1, (Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology) made the first detailed survey of chemical elements on the lunar surface; 2007 = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kaguya (SELENE - SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) will map the Moon and deploy a small satellite to study the gravitational field on the far side of the Moon; 2024 = plans for a permanent Moon base may be established;

Orbital characteristics
Perigee Apogee Eccentricity Orbital period Synodic period Ave. orbital speed Inclination 363,104 km (0.0024 AU) 405,696 km (0.0027 AU) 0.0549 27.321582 d (27 d 7 h 43.1 min) 29.530589 d (29 d 12 h 44 min 2.9 s) 1.022 km/s 5.145 to the ecliptic (between 18.29 and 28.58 to Earth's equator) 27.321582 d (synchronous) 1.622 m/s2 (0.165 4 g) 2.38 km/s 1,737.10 km (0.273 Earths) 3,346.4 kg/m3 0.136 Ar, He, Na, K, H, Rn

Sidereal rotation period Equatorial surface gravity Escape velocity Mean radius Mean density Albedo Composition

Prepared by:

Ms. Alexis Valentos Dela Cruz

III- BEEd May 11, 2011

Sound
a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System; a solid object moving in interplanetary space, of a size considerably smaller than an asteroid and considerably larger than an atom; solid body orbiting the sun, becoming a meteor, or shooting star, if it enters the earth's atmosphere; If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite; Explosions, detonations, and rumblings are often heard during meteorite falls, which can be caused by sonic booms as well as shock waves resulting from major fragmentation events;

Meteorite
a portion of a meteoroid or asteroid that survives its passage through the atmosphere and impact with the ground without being destroyed; derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids; o falls = meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transited the atmosphere or impacted the Earth; o finds = all other meteorites are known; Meteorites found on Earth are classified into types, depending on their composition: o irons = composed chiefly of iron, a small percentage of nickel, and traces of other metals such as cobalt o stones = stony meteors consisting of silicates o stony irons = containing varying proportions of both iron and stone; Tektite =molten terrestrial material "splashed" from a meteorite impact crater can cool and solidify into an object; Elbogen - The oldest recorded meteorite in the Czech Republic, also known as the "betwitched burgrave"; Hoba - The largest known meteorite; estimated to weigh about 60 metric tons, is situated at Hoba West near Grootfontein, Namibia; Ahnighito (the Tent) = next largest, weighing more than 31 metric tons; discovered in 1894 near Perlernerit (Cape York), Greenland, by American explorer Robert Edwin Peary on Earth; (300 km diameter) Meteor Crater (Arizona) = also known as Barringer Crater, the first confirmed terrestrial impact crater (1.2 km diameter);

Meteor/ shooting or falling star

from a Greek word which means atmospheric a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere; typically occur in the mesosphere, and most range in altitude from 75 km to 100 km; impact pressure causes the body to heat up and emit light; o fireball = a brighter-than-usual meteor; o bolide = from the Greek (bolis) which can mean a missile or to flash; fireballs reaching magnitude -14 or brighter o superbolide = bolide reaches 17 or brighter meteoric dust = left-over debris which occur in showers, and arise when the Earth passes through a trail of debris left by a comet; meteor shower = happens when Earth moves through a belt of particles in space depending on the chemical composition of the meteoroid: o orange/yellow (sodium); o yellow (iron); o green (copper); o purple (potassium); and o red (silicate)

Color

Vredefort Crater (South Africa) = the largest known impact crater