Astronomy 101 This week’s topic is

the Moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inside------- Fun

Moon Facts----- A

crossword puzzle-----

-and amazing

pictures!!!!!!!

Mar,1, 2012 Vol. 47 issue 3

Table Of Contents

How the moon was formed ………………………....2

Composition…………………………………………….3

Size and distance from Earth………………………4

Moon Phases and Moon orbit…………..……………5

Effects the moon has on Earth……………………..6

Moon Timeline Missions………………………………7

INCLUDES!

Timeline of

Missions to the

MOON!

Moon FUN

FACTS!

AND a

crossword

puzzle!

Formation!

The prevailing theory today is that the

Earth-Moon system formed as a result of a

giant impact!

There are

other theories

as to how it

was formed.

Such as The

Fission

Hypothesis,

the belief that

the Earth spun

so fast that a

portion of the

crust broke

off to form

the moon!

The Capture Hypothesis stated that the Moon came

from a part of the universe with little iron, strayed

near Earth’s gravitational field, and was drawn

into orbit.

Co-Formation Hypothesis:

The Moon and Earth were

formed at the same time

and in the same region in

the solar nebula, drawing

materials from each other

from the dust around

them.

BUT, Most of these

theories have

multiple holes, and

have been proved

impossible by

scientists.

Moon’s Composition

The composition of the Moon is a bit of a mystery. Although we

know a lot about what the surface of the Moon is made of, scientists

can only guess at what the internal composition of the Moon is.

Here’s what we think the Moon is made of.

Moon’s size and distance from

Earth !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The size of the moon is way smaller than the size

of the Earth. The Moon is approximately 1/4 of

Earth's diameter, 1/80th of Earth's mass and

1/50th of Earth's volume.

Also we are very far away from the big

cheese in the sky. We are estimated a

whole 384,403 kilometers (238,857

miles).

Moon phases

The moon phases can tell the days if

you find a pattern in them. A long

time ago Indians would make

calendars from looking at the moon

to see it’s position. Today though we

have different way to read a

calendar, but the moon phases stay

the same. The moon phases are new

moon, waxing crescent, first quarter,

waxing gibbous, full, wining gibbous,

third quarter, wining crescent, and

back to new!

Moon

orbits!

The Moon completes its orbit around the

Earth in approximately 27.3 days (a sidereal

month).

Be a star and shine

Moon effects the Earth

But How?

Its position around the earth allows it to reflect the sun's light

into our night. The moon's orbit around the earth lasts about a

month giving us different levels of this light. The 'new moon' has

little light to offer and the 'full moon' provides us with the best

lighting. The second effect comes from the moon's gravitational

pull on the earth. As the earth rotates, the moon's pull causes

the world's bodies of water to experience 'high tides.' At a given

time there are two high tides on earth.

The moon effects the

earth in two ways

Moon Missions Timeline