What is the moon interesting facts. Moon, Moon... Brief information and cool photos

Perhaps every person has looked at the Moon at least once in his life. And even schoolchildren know certain facts about it. We have collected for our readers less well-known, but no less interesting facts about the satellite of our planet.

1. The moon appeared as a result of a collision

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 completes a full revolution around the planet every 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 craters of the Moon 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 highest tides occur during a full or new moon.

16. The Moon is moving away from the Earth

One lunar day is equal to 29.5 days on Earth. On the Moon, it takes 29.5 Earth days for the Sun to cross the entire sky.

19. "Ares I" and "Ares V"

Men haven't landed on the moon in 41 years. However, NASA is working on new rockets, Ares I and Ares V, that will be able to carry payload to the Moon and back.

20. Progress

Today, smartphones are much more powerful than the computers used to land the Apollo on the moon.

Especially for those who are interested in geography and interesting facts, we have collected.

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 by the American company 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" occurs during a total lunar eclipse. During this period, the Earth is on the same line between the Moon and the Sun. Light waves of the red spectrum (as the longest) of sunlight, refracted in the earth's atmosphere, give the “night sun” a crimson hue.
The night star does not have its own magnetic field. However, the stones brought by the astronauts nevertheless have magnetic properties. 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 Yuri Gagarin.
A "blue moon" is the second full moon in a 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. It is located on the dark side of the Moon, so it is not visible from Earth. On the visible side of the Moon, the largest crater 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.

Do you think you know everything about the Moon? Think again! Here are 10 interesting facts about the Moon. Some of them you may already know, and some will be completely new. Enjoy!

1. The moon was formed from the earth.
Scientists believe the Moon was formed when a huge object the size of the planet Mars crashed into our planet about 4.5 billion years ago. The impact was so great that huge chunks of the earth's rocks were thrown into space. Under the Earth's gravity, the ejected debris gathered in low-Earth orbit and formed our satellite. As soil studies show, it consists of less dense material that contains little iron. This suggests that the composition of the Moon is

mostly surface rocks of the earth's crust.

2. The moon always has one side towards the Earth.
Why does the Moon face only one side towards the Earth? There is a misconception that many years ago it, like our planet, rotated around its axis. However, the Earth's gravity does not act uniformly on the Moon. Some sides of the Earth attract more than others. That is why billions of years ago the gravity of the Earth stopped the rotation of this planet around its axis. Now the side that is more susceptible to gravity is facing us. However, this is not true. The thing is that the Moon rotates around its axis. It’s just that the period of rotation of the Moon around its own axis coincides with the period of rotation of the Moon around the Earth - that’s why we see only one side of it.

3. The moon is slowly moving away from us.
Despite the fact that the Moon's orbit seems stable and uniform, in fact our satellite is moving away at a speed of 4 centimeters per year. In about 50 billion years, it will stop moving away and will be located in a stable orbit. The Moon's orbit around the Earth will take 47 days (currently 27.3 days).

4. The Moon appears to be the same size as the Sun.
This is an amazing coincidence. From our vantage point on Earth, the moon and sun appear to be the same size. Of course, the Sun is much larger than the Moon, about 400 times, but at the same time 400 times farther from us. But this was not always the case. Billions of years ago, the moon was closer to the Earth and appeared much larger than the sun.

5. The moon causes tides on Earth.
Most likely you already know that the ebb and flow of the tides are caused by the gravitational attraction of our satellite. But it is not the only one that influences the strength of the tides. When the positions of the Moon and the Sun coincide in the sky, the strongest ebbs and flows occur on Earth. In addition to water, the Moon also bends the crust of our planet with its gravity, but this is not noticeable in comparison with the tides.

6. Gravity on the surface of the satellite is only 17% of the earth’s.
Imagine that your weight is 100 kg. Standing on the surface of the Moon you would weigh only 17 kg. You could walk 6 times the distance and carry 6 times the weight of Earth. Using only the power of your own muscles, you could make short flights over the surface of the Moon.

7. The official name of the earth's moon is Luna.
I know this fact sounds strange. But when our satellite received the name Moon, astronomers did not know that there were other planets in our solar system with the same satellite moons. Now the moons in our system are distinguished simply: our satellite is called the Moon, with a capital letter “L”, and the moons of other planets with a small letter.

8. The Moon is the 5th largest satellite of the Solar System.
In fact, the largest moon is the satellite of Jupiter - Ganymede, which has a diameter of 5262 km, followed by the satellites of Saturn - Titan, Jupiter - Callisto and Io, and finally the Moon with its average diameter of 3475 km.

9. Why is the surface of the Moon covered in craters?
The fact is that, unlike the Earth, it does not have its own atmosphere that would protect it from cosmic bodies in the form of meteorites. When a meteorite enters the Earth's atmosphere, due to friction with the air, it ignites and in most cases burns up before reaching the surface. On the Moon, everything that falls on the surface leaves huge imprints in the form of craters. The largest crater on the Moon is called Aitken, which is about 2000 km in diameter. The dotted line in the image shows the dimensions of this crater, which is also the largest crater in the entire Solar System.

10. During the entire existence of the moon, 12 people visited it.
Only a small group of astronauts have ever set foot on the surface of the moon. The first was Neil Armstrong in 1969, the last to trample the surface of the moon was Gene Cernan in 1972. Since then, there have been no human missions to the surface of our satellite.

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 in different areas reaches a thickness of from several meters to several dozen. 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 the Earth, most of it is occupied by flat spaces called seas. The seas on the Moon occupy about sixteen percent of the 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. Thus, a typical example is the ebb and flow of the seas, which arise due to the gravitational attraction of the satellite.

Origin of the Moon

According to various studies, there are many differences between the Moon and Earth, primarily in chemical composition: the Moon has virtually no water, relatively low levels of volatile elements, 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 a radioactive isotope, showed that the age of the Moon is the same as that of 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 on the general age, the combination of similar properties with a strong difference between two close objects of the solar system, 3 hypotheses for the origin of the Moon are put forward:

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 Earth's pale blue satellite, the Moon, has been studied since ancient times. For example, among the Greeks the thoughts of Archimedes on this subject are especially famous. Galileo described the Moon in detail with its characteristics and possible properties. 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 Soviet spacecraft Luna-9 made its first soft landing on the surface of the Moon. The next spacecraft, Luna-10, became the first artificial satellite of the Moon, and quite a short time later, on July 21, 1969, a 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 of the far side of the Moon, landing of the Chang'e-4 spacecraft)

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 a fiction, the American agency NASA seriously thought about this issue, setting the task of developing the “Constellation” program to resettle people on the lunar surface with the construction of a real space base on the Moon and the development of “inter-Earth-lunar” space flights. 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 a 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 living in human lunar conditions with telepresence effect. That is, a person will control the robot avatar from Earth, fully dressed in a suit that will simulate his presence on the Moon as a robot 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 slightly smaller the angular size is. 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 are 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, with an entire city inside - the stronghold of the modern capitalist system. What’s interesting is that the children’s story seems not so much fantastic as it is socio-political, which does not lose its relevance in modern times, interesting for both children and adults.

Every inhabitant of our planet looked into the night sky and saw the Moon. Even schoolchildren know some generally accepted information about the planet’s satellite. But there are interesting facts about the Moon that are not known to the general public.

Earth satellite

In its current form, the Moon was formed after a collision of a planet with a space object - this is the first scientific version. The dimensions of the object are comparable to the planet Mars, and a satellite emerged from a fragment of the earth. There is a second theory that claims that the satellite was formed from a broken-off part of the Earth, which was located on the site of today's Pacific Ocean.

Another theory proves that a body of geological rocks wandered across the expanses of the universe until it was pulled by the gravity of the Earth. Some scientists suggest that the Moon was formed from asteroids sintered into a single mass. The Ring Theory is considered proven, reasoned, and popular in the scientific community. The theory states that some forming protoplanet collided with the Earth, breaking up into fragments that eventually formed a satellite.

The moon does not emit enough light to illuminate the planet as during the day; it would take 300,000 satellites in the full moon phase. Earthlings look at one side of the Moon - the satellite rotates around an axis much slower than the Earth. There are more mountains on the far side of the satellite than on the one that earthlings see. The smoothing of the mountains occurred under the influence of gravity; the visible lunar side has a thinner crust.

There are interesting craters on the surface of the Moon; they were left by space meteorites 4 billion years ago. The geological activity of the Moon is much less than that of the Earth, so the ancient craters have been preserved in their original form. Lunar craters are named after famous explorers, artists, and astronauts.

The good news for scientists was that frozen water was discovered on the satellite. Ice accumulates in shaded underground craters where there is no air. An analogue of the earth's atmosphere is the lunar exosphere, consisting of helium, argon, and neon. Contrary to popular beliefs, the satellite is not spherical in shape, it is more similar to an egg - this is due to the influence of earth's gravity.

The center of mass of the Moon is not in the middle of the cosmic body, but is shifted by 2,000 meters. Moonquakes occur regularly, caused by the planet's gravitational forces. Dancing dust hovers over the lunar expanses, which is noticeable from the Earth at sunset and dawn. Moon dust particles rise above the surface under the influence of electromagnetic forces.

The tides in the Earth's oceans are influenced by the gravitational influence of the Moon. A strong effect is observed during the full moon. Psychologists and psychiatrists have noticed that during new moon periods, exacerbations occur in patients of psychiatric clinics. There are many theories explaining this pattern, but they have not been sufficiently proven. It is known that the Moon affects human sleep - during the full moon, many earthlings experience insomnia, others have nightmares.

Lunar weather is characterized by rapid changes - per day at the equator, the temperature ranges from -173°C below zero to +127°C above zero. A day on the satellite is equal to 29.5 Earth days; in a month the sun travels its way from sunrise to sunset. Astronomers claim that the Earth has at least one more satellite. Such a satellite is called the asteroid Cruitney, which orbits the Earth every 770 years. It is possible that there are other similar satellites with an even longer rotation period.

Scientifically speaking, the Moon and Earth are a double planet system. Gradually the satellite “flies away” from the Earth. Initially, the Moon was at a distance of 22 thousand km. Today it is almost 400 thousand km. One of the interesting lunar mysteries is the lack of magnetism in the celestial body, which is proven by the readings of modern instruments and mathematical calculations of scientists of past generations. Even stranger, the astronauts brought with them stones that had full magnetic properties. This mystery has concerned modern scientists for many years.

American astronauts on the Moon

It is well known that he was the first earthling to set foot on the lunar surface. There are less public facts about the Moon and the brave earthlings who visited the distant satellite. Between 1969 and 1972, 12 Americans set foot on the moon. We present to the reader some interesting but little-known amazing facts.

The US flag, next to which astronaut B. Aldrin stands, is depicted in the most famous lunar photograph. This flag fell as the rocket lifted off for its return trip to Earth. Subsequent astronauts planted American flags, some of which still fly today, but due to strong solar radiation they lost their color and became snow-white.

The oldest earthling to visit the Moon is Alan Shepard. This American was suspended from flying due to hearing problems, but Alan overcame the disease, becoming a member of the astronaut team a few years later. Arriving on Satellite at the age of 47, he distinguished himself by making the longest throw with a golf club in the history of the sport. A little-known fact is that the courageous astronaut began to cry when he stepped onto the soft lunar firmament, but could not wipe away the treacherous tears because of his spacesuit.

On Earth, the astronauts were explained that they were representatives of all earthlings, and therefore should not perform religious rituals on the expedition, so as not to offend the feelings of believers of other religions. Buzz Aldrin elegantly circumvented the ban. After the landing was completed, he asked all earthlings on the radio to mark the historical event, thanking those who were involved in it. After this, the savvy guy took out a loaf of bread, a flask of wine, said words of gratitude from the Bible, thus performing the ritual of Christian communion.

The commander of Apollo 15 decided to honor the American and Soviet cosmonauts who died during unsuccessful launches. David Scott asked the artist to make a small statue symbolizing the heroes who died in pursuit of the cosmic dream.

Belgian Paul Hoeydonk made a finger-sized figurine without any indication of race, nationality, or gender. The names of 14 fallen astronauts from the USA and USSR were written on the memorial plaque. In fact, at that time there were 2 more Russian cosmonauts who died, but the Americans did not know about them.

When it became clear that NASA was curtailing the program due to lack of funding, the next flight of the module would be the last - the scientific community put pressure on the management to send its representative on the flight.

Previously, only test pilots had flown, but on the last Apollo 17 they decided to take on the crew one of the many scientists who had undergone space training with almost no hope. The lucky winner was Harvard geology professor Harrison Schmitt. The professor spent almost three days on the Moon without sleep, collecting and studying lunar rocks, bringing back interesting samples that still cause a lot of controversy in narrow scientific circles.

Myths about aliens

After 1972, the Apollo program was closed. Fans of conspiracy theories dismiss the idea that the reason for curtailing space programs is a lack of funds and the financial unprofitability of flights. They consider this behavior, strange from their point of view, to mean that the astronauts discovered aliens on the Moon who threatened to destroy the Earth. The world government was forced to stop further flights under the threat of a thermonuclear explosion.

Adherents of this theory compare ancient myths and facts obtained by science, seeing confirmation of their fears. Back in the 19th century, some scientists put forward theories about the existence of aliens - evidence was provided by telescope readings. With multiple magnification, numerous craters are visible, similar to the structures of ancient cities.

Modern video footage taken by astronauts has added questions to incredulous ufologists. Some have come to the startling conclusion that the flight of American astronauts is a hoax.

The Moon is not only a planetary satellite, it is a source of inspiration for lovers or creative individuals. Moonlight is an invariable attribute of artistic canvases with night landscapes. The night light is mentioned in poems, prose, fantasy and romance novels, fairy tales for children, and horror films. The heaviest of the modern bony inhabitants of the seas is the moon fish, the leader in fertility among vertebrates.