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Sep 7, 2023 · So, let’s learn more about our familiar yet alien Moon, exploring its size, composition, distance from Earth, and the reason behind its ever-changing phases. How big is the Moon?
From your astronaut’s viewpoint, you can see that the Moon is an average of 238,855 miles (384,399 km) from Earth, or about the space that could be occupied by 30 Earths. It travels around our planet once every 27.322 days in an elliptical orbit, an elongated circle.
Artist's depiction of the Moon as it might have appeared in Earth's sky after the Late Heavy Bombardment around 4 billion years ago. At that time the Moon orbited the Earth at half its current distance, making it appear 2.8 times larger than it does today. The newly formed Moon settled into a much closer Earth orbit than it has today.
- Why Does It Look Like The Moon Is Changing Shape?
- Is There Actually A “Dark Side" of The Moon?
- How Did The Moon form?
- How Do We Study The Moon?
- What Do We Know About The Moon?
From Earth, it might look like the Moon is changing shapeeach night – from a tiny sliver to a half moon to a full moon and back again. What’s actually happening is that from our spot on Earth, we see different parts of the Moon lit up by the Sun as the Moon travels in its orbit.
No. The Moon rotates on its own axis at the same rate that it orbits around Earth. That means we always see the same side of the Moon from our position on Earth. The side we don't see gets just as much light, so a more accurate name for that part of the Moon is the "far side."
Scientists believe that the Moon formed early in the solar system’s history after Earth and an object about the size of Mars smashed into each other. The impact sent chunks of Earth and the impactor into space that were pulled together by gravity, creating the Moon.
Even thousands of years ago, humans drew pictures to track the changes of the Moon. Later, people used their observations of the Moon to create calendars. Today, we study the Moon using telescopes and spacecraft. For example, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the Moon and sending back measurements since 2009. The Moon is the onl...
Today, we know that the Moon is covered by cratersas well as dust and debris from comets, asteroids and meteoroid impacts. We know that the Moon’s dark areas, called maria – which is Latin for seas – are not actually seas. Instead, they are craters that lava seeped into billions of years ago. We know that the Moon has almost no atmosphere and only ...
The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth several billion years ago. Earth’s only natural satellite is simply called “the Moon” because people didn’t know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.
Jul 9, 2024 · The eight Moon phases: 🌑 New: We cannot see the Moon when it is a new moon. 🌒 Waxing Crescent: In the Northern Hemisphere, we see the waxing crescent phase as a thin crescent of light on the right. 🌓 First Quarter: We see the first quarter phase as a half moon.
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May 23, 2023 · Magma in the mantle made its way to the surface in the past and erupted volcanically for more than a billion years — from at least four billion years ago to fewer than three billion years...
