Chapter 29: Minor Bodies of the Solar System California Standards: 1a & e.
Earth’s Satellite A satellite is a naturally occurring or artificial body that revolves around another celestial body. Our moon revolves around Earth and is a natural satellite. The gravity on the moon is 1/6th that of Earth.
Earth’s Moon Our moon has no atmosphere, that is it has no oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc. Thus, it is very cold or very hot with temperatures that range from –170o C to 134o C.
Features of the Moon The lunar (luna = Latin, moon) is made up of dark areas called mare which are dark, solidified lava. Maria is plural for mare. Craters are the ‘bowl’ shaped depressions form when meteorites HIT the moon after its formation, four to five billion years ago.
Landings on the moon U.S. Landings Russian Landings
Lunar Features
Lunar Impact Crater
Impact crater, Arizona
Clearwater Lake, Canada
Moons Interior: crust, mantle, & core.
Moon’s crust is thicker away from the Earth than towards the Earth Moon’s crust is thicker away from the Earth than towards the Earth. Elevation differences from the Clementine space probe show the different thicknesses of the moon.
Age of the Moon Moon rocks returned form the Apollo Missions have shown that the moon is between 4 and 5 billion years old. Since there has been no weathering of these rocks this is the age given to our Earth and our solar system.
Giant Impact may explain the formation of the moon.
Formation of the moon The current theory as to the formation f the moon is the Giant Impact Hypothesis. This hypothesis explains why the rocks on the moon are similar to Earth’s mantle.
Phases of the Moon The phases of the moon are due to its revolution around the Earth. This revolution takes 27.3 days It’s rotation and revolution take the same amount of time, therefore, we see only one side of the moon.
Moon Phases
Moon Phases Waxing phases the moon is getting larger Waning phases the moon is getting smaller
Eclipses Solar eclipse is when the moon moves between the sun and the Earth. Lunar eclipse is when the Earth moves between the moon and the sun.
Solar Eclipse
Total Solar Eclipse with umbra and penumbra.
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
Total Lunar Eclipse
Plutoids Plutoids are a new class of object that circles the sun. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) proposed these new objects. They are found beyond Neptune, orbit the sun, and have enough mass for it self-gravity to be near spherical in shape.