A Closer look at

Our Moon

Created by: Janet DSantos

The moon is a natural

satellite. A satellite is
anything the orbits the earth.
Artificial satellites have four main
uses:
Communications
Monitoring the weather
Observing the Earth
Exploring the solar system

The moon is a cold, dry orb whose surface is studded

with craters and strewn with rocks and dust. The moon
has no atmosphere. Recent lunar missions indicate that
there might be some frozen ice at the poles.

The Moons movement

The moon revolves around the Earth in
about one month (27 days 8 hours). It
rotates around its own axis in the same
amount of time. The same side of the
moon always faces the Earth; it is in a
synchronous rotation with the Earth.

How far away is the Moon?

The moon is about

238,900 miles (384,000
km) from Earth on
average.
At its closest point the
moon is 221,460 miles
(356,410 km) from the
Earth.
At its farthest
approach the moon is
252,700 miles (406,700
km) from the Earth.

Size of the Moon

The moon's diameter is

2,140 miles (3,476 km),
the Earth is 7,900 miles
(12,742 km) in diameter.
That's how far you would
have to tunnel to dig to
the other side of the
Earth!
The circumference of the
moon is 6,790miles
(10,864km). The
circumference of the
earth at the equator is
24,901.55 miles (40,075
km).

How much does the Moon

weigh?
The moon's mass is about
1/81 of the Earth's mass.
The moon's gravitational
force is only 17% of the
Earth's gravity. For
example, a 100 pound
person would weigh only 17
pounds on the Moon.

The Atmosphere on the

Moon
TEMPERATURE
The temperature on the Moon ranges from
daytime highs of about 130C = 265F to
nighttime lows close to -310 F.
ATMOSPHERE
The moon has no atmosphere. On the moon, the
sky is always appears dark, even on the bright
side (because there is no atmosphere). Also,
since sound waves travel through air, the moon
is silent; there can be no sound transmission on
the moon.

The surface of the moon

is scarred by millions of
(mostly circular) impact
craters, caused by
asteroids, comets, and
meteorites. There is no
atmosphere on the moon
to help protect it from
bombardment from
potential impactors (most
objects from space burn
up in our atmosphere).
Also, there is no erosion
(wind or precipitation) and
little geologic activity to
wear away these craters,
so they remain unchanged
until another new impact
changes it.

Man on the Moon

There have been many missions to the
moon, including orbiters missions and moon
landings. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong
was the first person to set foot on the
moon. His first words upon stepping down
the Lunar Module's ladder onto the lunar
surface were, "That's one small step for
man, one giant leap for mankind." Aldrin
described the lunar scenery as "magnificent
desolation."

How did the Moon form?

Most scientists believe that the moon was
formed from the ejected material after the
Earth collided with a Mars-sized object.
This ejected material gathered into the
moon that went into orbit around the
Earth. This catastrophic collision occurred
about 60 million years after Earth itself
formed (about 4.3 billion years ago). This
is determined by the dating of moon rocks.

Vocabulary
Axis:

An axis is an imaginary straight line around which an

object, like a planet, turns.

Circumference: the distance around the equator

Diameter: the width from one side to the other through
the center

Orbit: path that an object takes as it moves around another

body

Revolve: when an object moves in orbit around another object

Rotate: to turns or spin around a central point or axis. One
day is defined as the time it takes the planet to rotate around
its axis.

Satellite: objects that orbit a planet or a moon.