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THE MOON
3rd Period Earth Science
Shannon Tharpe
Jessica Freeman
Facts
• The Moon is the only
natural satellite of
Earth
• Orbit: 384,400 km
from Earth
• Diameter: 3476 km kg
• Mass: 7.3522 kg
Origin Of The Moon
• The moon is Earth’s only
natural satellite. At the
time Earth formed 4.5
billion years ago, other
smaller planetary bodies
were also growing. One
of these hit earth late in
Earth's growth process,
blowing out rocky debris.
A fraction of that debris
went into orbit around the
Earth and aggregated
into the moon.
The Moon’s Alias
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January: Winter Moon
February: Trapper's Moon
March: Fish Moon
April: Planter's Moon
May: Milk Moon
June: Rose Moon
July: Summer Moon
August :Dog Day's Moon
September: Harvest Moon
October: Hunter's Moon
November: Beaver Moon
December: Christmas Moon
• The "official" name is
the Moon, with a
capital M. The
satellites of the other
planets are called
moons (small m). The
moon is sometimes
also called Luna
Moon Myths
• The Moon was once
believed to be a sister
of the Earth, but this
was disproved
because the Moon
has no Iron.
• “The Dark Side of the
Moon” may be a song
but it doesn’t exist. All
parts of the moon
receive sunlight
except the bottom of
deep craters.
• The Earth always
sees the same side of
the moon.
• The “Man In The
Moon” is actually just
a shadow of the
craters
Apollo 11
• Apollo 11 was the first
moon landing. The
spacecraft landed on
the surface of the
moon on July 20th
1969. Neil Armstrong,
Michael Collins, and
Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.
were the landers.
Moon phases
Moon
APOLLO LAUNCH
What The Moon Is Made Of
• The moon is composed of rock and soil, not
unlike earth. And there are some similarities. But
the nature of the rocks and soil over the moon
isn't that well documented. We only have a few
samples, and this limited supply of stuff to study
originated in only a few areas - those where we
landed to investigate. It isn't like we have
samples from all over, as there were only a few
missions to the lunar surface.
Geology Of The Moon
• The geology of the Moon is quite different from
that of the Earth. The Moon lacks a significant
atmosphere and any bodies of water, which
eliminates erosion due to weather; it does not
possess any form of plate tectonics, it has a
lower gravity, and because of its small size, it
cooled more rapidly. The complex
geomorphology of the lunar surface has been
formed by a combination of processes, chief
among which are impact cratering, and
volcanism. The Moon is a differentiated body,
which possesses a crust, mantle and core.
Geology Continued
• Geological studies of the Moon are based on a
combination of Earth based telescope observations,
measurements from orbiting spacecraft, lunar samples,
and geophysical data. A few locations were sampled
directly during the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, which returned approximately 385
kilograms of lunar rock and soil to Earth, as well as
several missions of the Soviet Luna programme. The
Moon is the only extraterrestrial body for which we
possess samples with a known geologic context. A
handful of lunar meteorites have been recognized on
Earth, though their source craters on the Moon are
unknown. A substantial portion of the lunar surface has
not been explored and a number of geological questions
remain unanswered.
Craters
• It may be surprising to learn that the origin of the Moon's
craters as impact features became widely accepted only
in the 1940s. This realization allowed the impact history
of the Moon to be gradually worked out by means of the
geologic principle of superposition. That is, if a crater (or
its ejecta) overlaid another, it must be the younger. The
amount of erosion experienced by a crater was another
clue to its age, though this is more subjective. Adopting
this approach in the late 1950s, Gene Shoemaker took
the systematic study of the Moon away from the
astronomers and placed it firmly in the hands of the lunar
geologists.
Why The Moon Fascinates So
Many People
• It controls our tides thanks to its
gravitational pull
• It’s a great source of nighttime light
• Not many people have been there
Pictures Of The Moon!
Sources
NASA. “The Moon.” 1997-2005.Solar veiws.
March 1819.<http://www.solarviews.com/eng/moon.
htm>.