The Moon and It’s Wonders

By: Ethan Nooner and Kelsey Harris

Table of contents

3. How the Moon Was Formed

4. Composition of the Moon

5. Size – Distance from Earth

6. Phases of the Moon

7. Orbit of the Moon

8. Effects on Earth

9. Missions to the Moon

10. Missions to the Moon

11. Crossword Puzzle

How the Moon Was Formed

Five billion years ago there was no sun, nor earth, nor moon. All that existed

of our galaxy was a cloud of interstellar dust and gas. It consisted mostly of helium

and hydrogen, and buts of dust mixed together with tiny grains of heavier material

that had remained from dying stars.

The cloud was lumpy having an area within, a denser collection of material

than others. Since the gravitational force exerted by this relatively high-density

area was correspondingly greater than those surrounding it. Consequently, it would

tend to pull more material toward it, further increasing its mass. As a result, it’s

gravitational force yet increases and even more matter pulled into the thickening

cloud. Eventually, the most massive region of the cloud would begin pulling

everything toward it and the entire cloud collapse.

That caused two things to happen. First, the amount of material in the center

would grow enormous, creating an increasingly large, dense sphere in the midst of

space. As its density increases, so does the temperature. You can see this same

effect in everyday examples; for instance an air pump for tires, inflate a tire by

hand, and the pump becomes warm. This occurs because when air compresses and

becomes denser, temperature will increase.

The second thing that would happen, like an ice skater that draws in her

arms as she goes into a spin, the cloud’s rotation speeds up as it decreases in size

and increases in density.

Lean fun and interesting facts about the

moon!

Visit moon.com for more info.

Composition of the Moon

What is the moon made of? Start by looking at its surface. There are light

areas and dark areas. The dark areas are called seas, but they do not contain water.

The seas are flat regions, whereas the light areas are rugged and are higher on

average. For this reason, they are also called highlands. Across the whole surface,

craters caused by meteoric impacts are evident. The craters are much more

enhanced and frequent within the light areas.

In the years from 1969 to 1972 the moon has been explored by man.

Astronauts brought back to Earth some samples of lunar soil, so it has been

possible to analyze and date those rocks. It has been found that the younger lunar

rocks are the dark ones, those of the seas, and that they are 3.2 billion years old.

The older ones are the light rocks of the highlands, and they are 4.6 billion years

old.

Learning about the moon is fun!

Visit your local library!

Size –Distance from Earth

The average distance between the earth and the moon is 238,857 miles

(384,392 kilometers). The diameter of the moon is 3,474 km, which is about 1/4

the size diameter of Earth. The surface area is 37.9 million square km, which is

smaller than Asia. So, it makes it look large in the sky, but it is really a lot smaller

than Earth.

Phases of the Moon

New Moon - The moon’s unilluminated side is facing the Earth. The

moon is not visible (except during a solar eclipse).

Waxing Crescent - The moon appears to be partly but less than one-

half illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the moon’s disk that is

illuminated is increasing.

First Quarter - One-half of the moon appears to be illuminated by

direct sunlight. The fraction of the moon’s disk that is illuminated is increasing.

Waxing Gibbous – The moon appears to be more than one-half but

not fully illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the moon’s disk that is

illuminated is decreasing.

Last Quarter – One-half of the moon appears to be illuminated by

direct sunlight. The fraction of the moon’s disk that is illuminated is decreasing.

Waning Crescent - The moon appears to be partly but less than one-

half illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the moon’s disk that is

illuminated is decreasing.

Orbit of the Moon

The moon takes about 27.3 days to complete one orbit around the Earth.

Earth and the moon actually orbit a common center of gravity. This place is about

4,700 km from the center of the Earth. In other words, the Earth wobbles back and

forth because of the orbit of the moon. Some scientists have even proposed that the

Earth and the moon are actually a double planet because of their relationship, but

this would only be the case if the common center of gravity was outside the surface

of the Earth.

The orbit of the moon is about 385,000 km from the Earth on average. Like

the planets in the Solar System, the orbit of the moon isn’t circular; it actually

follows an elliptical path around the Earth. At its closest point, called perihelion,

the moon is 364,397 km from the Earth. At its most distant point, called aphelion,

the moon is 406,731 km from the Earth.

You might have heard that the moon is slowly drifting away from the Earth.

Although the moon is tidally locked to the Earth, presenting the same face to our

planet, the Earth isn’t tidally locked. But in about 50 bi9llion years from now, the

moon will complete an orbit once every 47 days, and it will remain in exactly the

same place in the sky. One-half of the Earth will be able to see the moon, and it

will be hidden from the other half.

Effects on Earth

Tides are created because the Earth and the moon are attracted to each other,

just like magnets are attracted to each other. The moon tries to pull at anything on

the Earth to bring it closer. But, the Earth is able to hold onto everything except the

water. Since the water is always moving, the Earth cannot hold onto it, and the

moon is able to pull at it. Each day, there are two high tides and two low tides. The

ocean is constantly moving from high tide to low tide, and then back to high tide.

There is about 12 hours and 25 minutes between the two high tides.

Tides are the periodic rise and falling of large bodies of water. Winds and

currents move the surface water causing waves. The gravitational attraction of the

moon causes the oceans to bulge out in the direction of the moon. Another bulge

occurs on the opposite side, since the Earth is also being pulled toward the moon

(and away from the water on the far side). Ocean levels fluctuate daily as the sun,

moon and Earth interact. As the moon travels around the Earth and as they,

together, travel around the sun, the combined gravitational forces cause the world’s

oceans to rise and fall. Since the Earth is rotating while this is happening, two tides

occur each day.

Missions to the Moon

The Apollo missions were a series of space missions, both manned and

unmanned, flown by NASA between 1961 and 1975. They culminated with a

series of manned moon landings between 1969 and 1972.

The Apollo program used four types of launch vehicles:

Little Joe II – unmanned suborbital launch escape system

development.

Saturn I – unmanned suborbital and orbital hardware development.

Saturn IB – preparatory unmanned missions, and Apollo 7, the first

manned (Earth orbit) mission.

Saturn V – unmanned and manned Earth orbit and lunar missions.

Here are some of the manned missions to the moon.

Saturn IB - AS-204, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and roger B.

Chaffee

Saturn IB – AS-205, Walter M. “Wally” Schirra, Donn Eisele and Water

Cunningham

Saturn V – AS-503, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders

Saturn V – AS-504, James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell L. “Rusty”

Schweickart

Saturn V – AS-505, Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young and Eugene

Cernan

Saturn V – AS-506, Neil Armstrong, MichaelColins and Edwin E. “Buzz”

Aldrin

Saturn V – AS-507, Charles “Pete” Conrad, Richard Gordon and Alan Bean

Saturn V – AS-508, Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise

Saturn V – AS-509, Alan B. Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell

Saturn V – AS-510, David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin

Saturn V – AS-511, John W. Young, Ken Mattingly and Charles Duke

Saturn V – AS-512, Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison H. “Jack”

Schmitt, PhD

Here are some unmanned missions to the moon:

SA – 4

SA – 5

A – 101

A – 102

A – 103

A – 104

A – 105

Moon Crossword Puzzle

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Questions:

1. _______ billion years ago there was no sun, no earth and no moon.

2. Dark areas on the moon.

3. Light areas on the moon.

4. The moon is 238,857 ___________ from the earth.

5. The phase of the moon when the unilluminated side is facing the earth.

6. The moon takes 27.3 ____________ to complete one orbit around the earth.

7. _________________ are created because the earth and the moon are attracted to each

other.

8. The _____________ missions were a series of space missions, both manned and

unmanned, flown by NASA between 1961 and 1975.