Earth’s Moon(Chapter 24)

Distance from the Earth to the Moon?

• 239,320 miles ; 386,000 kilometers

Luna

• Series of space probes launched by the former Soviet Union toward the Moon.

Luna 1

• Performed the first successful flyby of the Moon before orbiting the Sun.

Luna 2

• Crashed into the Moon on purpose.

• Test surface strength. and the ability to hit a moving object in space.

Luna 3

• Orbited the Moon and returned with photos of the surface and far side of the Moon.

Pioneer 1-3

• Unsuccessful attempts to orbit the Moon by the United States.

Pioneer 4

• Reached escape velocity from the Earth and returned data as it flew past the Moon

Ranger

• Designed to send back pictures of the Moon’s surface and crash into it.

Surveyor

• Soft-land on the Moon.

• Scoop and analyze lunar soil and rock

• Determine surface strength.

Mercury

• First American manned spacecrafts.

Mercury 3

• Alan Shepard’s flight, first of nine Mercury missions.

• Fifteen minute flight done on live TV.

Mercury 6

• John Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth.

• 5 hours, 3 orbits.

Mercury 9

• Final flight of Mercury complete 22 orbits and lasted 34 hours.

• L. Gordon Cooper• May 15, 1963

Gemini

• Designed for two astronauts.

• Purpose: 1. see if humans could

withstand space flight. 2. work in weightlessness

of space for 10 days, 3. maneuver the

spacecraft.

Apollo

• First successful manned missions to the Moon by the United States.

• 6 total missions.• Apollo 11, first on

Moon, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins. 1969.

Command module

• Portion of the space craft that held the 3 astronauts.

Service module

• Contained the life support systems, electrical power supply and the small maneuvering rockets.

Lunar module

• Used by the astronauts to travel to the Moon’s surface and back to the orbiting command module.

Space shuttle

– Designed to be reused with a short turn around time (a few months).

– Contains 3 main units:

1. the orbiter

2. the external fuel tanks

3. two solid rocket boosters.

(RMS)

• Remote manipulator system used to lift objects out of the shuttle’s cargo bay.

Galileo, Magellan, Hubble Space Telescope, Ulysses, Gamma Ray

observatory,Spacelab• Satellites deployed by

space shuttle missions.

Moon’s diameter

• 3476 kilometers• 2155 miles

Maria/mare

• (latin) Galileo named areas on the lunar surface, thought to be oceans.

• Dark basins and level plains on the lunar surface that looked like they were filled with water.

Micrometeroids

• Tiny particles no larger than grains of sand constantly bombarding the Moon and other satellites.

Mascons

• Short for “mass concentrations.

• Areas of higher gravity due to what scientists believe are buried mare basins.

Rilles

• Deep, long clefts or cracks running through the maria bedrock. May be formed when the roof a lava tunnel caved in.

Craters

• Hollows in the Moon’s surface, formed mostly by impacts of meteoroids.

Rays

• Bright streaks that radiate from a number of craters.

• Can be up to thousands of km’s long.

• Made mostly of shattered rock and dust splashed out by the meteoroid impacts.

Regolith

• Loose, grayish-brown small rock material found on the Moon’s surface.

• Contains no water or organic material.

Gardening

• Stirring of regolith by the impact of meteoroids.

Perigee

• When the Moon is nearest to the Earth.

Apogee

• When the Moon is farthest from the Earth.

Phases

• Daily changes in the Moon’s appearance that occur for two reasons:

• 1. The Moon reflects sunlight.

• 2. The Moon orbits the Earth and changes position constantly.

Waxing

• The change of the Moon from new to full phases.

• The Moon appears to be getting larger.

Waning

• The change of the Moon from full to new phases.

• The Moon appears to be getting smaller or waning away.

Lunar month

• The time it takes to go from one new moon to the next new moon. (29.5 days)

• One revolution only takes 27.3 days.

Umbra

• The total shadow and is long, narrow cone.

Penumbra

• The partial shadow surrounding the umbra, also cone shaped.

Lunar eclipse

• Occurs when the Moon passes into Earth’s umbra.

• Will occur only during the full moon phase.

Solar eclipse

• occurs when the Moon’s umbra reaches the Earth’s surface.

• Can occur only during a new moon phase.

Annular

• Eclipse that occurs when the Moon is at apogee and the umbra shadow fails to reach the Earth’s surface.

• Also known as the ring eclipse.

Tides

• daily rise and fall of the ocean’s waters due to the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun.

Direct high tide

• water on the moon-side of the Earth.

• Pulled directly by the gravity of the Moon.

Indirect high tide

• • Earth is pulled away from water on the far side of the Earth by the gravity of the Moon.

Spring tide

• occur twice a month with highest high and lowest low tides.

• Largest tidal range.• Occur during full and

new moon phases.

Neap tide

• occur twice a month with lowest high and highest low tides.

• Smallest tidal range.• Occur during first and

last quarter phases.

Tidal range

• The difference in level between high and low tide lines.