The Moon or Luna, is the Earth sole natural satellite that was formed around 4.6 billion years ago. This was about 50 million years after the formation of our whole solar system. The rotations of the moon are in perfect harmony with the Earth meaning that the same side is always facing in this direction. The first unmanned mission to the Moon was in 1959 while the first manned mission was the Apollo 11 in 1969. Like much of our galaxy, there are so many incredible facts and things to learn.
Tides on our oceans are actually caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. There are two changes in the Earth oceans due to the Moon. The first is on the side facing the moon while the other is on the directly opposite side. These bulges cause high and low tides around the Earth.
The Moon hasn’t remained at the same distance from the earth as it always was. It moves away 3.8 cm every year. According to this number, in just 50 billion years, the Moon will take 47 days to orbit the Earth instead of the usual 27 days. TBH this is crazy!
You will actually weigh less on the Moon. It has a weaker gravity and when this is paired with its small mass, you will weigh about one-sixth of your weight on Earth. This is the reason why the astronauts on the Apollo 11 were seen hopping around. We wonder HIFW you could float, IKR?
There have been twelve people that have set foot on the moon. The first one was Neil Armstrong with the Apollo 11 and the last one was Gene Cernan in 1972. All of these explorers were American. Since 1972, the Moon has only been visited by unmanned vehicles.
The Moon does not have an atmosphere like the Earth. This means that cosmic rays, meteorites and solar winds reach its surface without any resistance. This is the reason why the skies always appear black on the moon.
The Moon also has ‘earth’ quakes. These quakes are caused by the gravitational pull of the Earth. Astronauts did some work on the quakes and found out that they occurred a few kilometers below the surface causing cracks every now and then.
Our Moon is the fifth-largest natural satellite in the solar system. It has a diameter of 3,475 kilometers which makes it smaller than the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Scientists believe the theory that the Moon was once a part of the Earth. A huge object collided with Earth and due to that, a chunk was knocked off which later formed the Moon.
NASA is once again planning to step foot on to the moon. If all things go according to plans, there will be people back on the Moon after a long period of 40 years.
During the 50s, before the Apollo 11 mission, the USA were considering to nuke the moon. This was called Project A119 which was going to be used as a show of strength during the Cold War.
Learn more about other places and technology such as Venus, Saturn, Leo, black hole, deep learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision, self driving electric trucks, Tesla, Elon Musk, and so much more.