The beautiful and mysterious Moon - the satellite of the Earth - invariably affects the life of our planet, delights, excites the imagination. A lot of interesting facts, puzzles and secrets are connected with it.
1. Origin
Most scientists believe that the moon formed after the collision of the Earth with a smaller planet. As a result of this, many fragments remained from an unknown planet, which formed a ring around the Earth. After a huge period of time, this “belt” concentrated in one “bunch”, which turned into the current satellite of the Earth.
2. The shape and trajectory of rotation
The shape of the moon is more like an egg than a ball. And it rotates not in a circular orbit, but in an elliptical one. By approaching the Earth and moving away, the Moon provokes powerful tides and makes the weather unpredictable, and with its attraction it slows down the rotation of our planet. Before this celestial body appeared, the Earth rotated faster - accordingly, the days were noticeably shorter.
3. The lunar surface
During its life, the satellite of the planet Earth has gone through very difficult times. About four billion years ago, the Moon, like the Earth, was subjected to a severe meteorite bombardment, after which a large number of unhealed "wounds" remained - huge craters. The largest of them is Aitken, it is not visible from the Earth, it is located near the south pole of the Moon. And the most impressive of the visible craters, with a diameter of more than 290 km, is called Bailey.
4. The Divine Moon
Almost all ancient civilizations noticed the significant influence that the satellite of the Earth exerts, therefore the Moon in many religious cults was revered as a deity. The ancient Greeks had three moon goddesses: the new moon - Artemis, the full moon - Selena and the reverse side of the moon - Hecate.
Some Greek philosophers sincerely believed that the beautiful companion of the Earth aggressively affects the quality of fluids in the human brain, so you can go crazy if you look at the night light for a long time.
5. Features of "life" on the moon
Since this celestial body does not have an atmosphere, twilight also does not exist there - the change of day and night occurs almost instantly. Day and night, only a black starry sky and a huge disk of the Earth are visible here.
The temperature drop on the lunar surface is truly huge - from minus one hundred to plus one hundred and sixty degrees Celsius. For comparison, on Earth, the maximum recorded drop was from minus forty-nine to plus seven degrees Celsius.
“Moonquakes” often occur here as a result of gravitational interaction with our planet. At the same time, there is neither wind nor moisture, so the traces of astronauts remain untouched for millions of years.
Gravity on the Moon is six times less than Earth, so an ordinary person could easily lift a weight equal to his own.
6. Lunar cemetery
Yes, the Earth’s satellite already stores human remains. There lies part of the ashes of Eugene Shoemaker, an American scientist who devoted his life to geology and planetology. In 1999, a capsule with its ashes was sent aboard the Lunar Prospector research station and fell to the lunar surface when the station completed its mission.
In addition, on the surface of the celestial body there is a small aluminum monument to the fallen astronauts, which is made in the form of an eight-centimeter figure of an astronaut in a spacesuit. And next to this monument is a tablet on which the names of people who sacrificed their lives for the exploration of outer space are recorded.
7. Lunar "avatars"
At the end of 2010, developers from NASA proposed a new project for the development of our satellite, which is conditionally called "Avatars". The idea is quite in tune with the popular film: robots land on the lunar surface, and scientists on Earth put on special suits and control these robots with their movements. Thanks to the project, it will be possible to explore the satellite of the Earth without leaving the home planet. And who knows what other surprises await mankind in the lunar expanses ...