The moon’s surface is covered with dead volcanoes, impact craters, and lava flows, some visible to the unaided stargazer. Early scientists thought the dark stretches of the moon might be oceans, and so named such features impact craters, which is Latin for “seas” (maria when there are more than one).
What surrounds the Moon?
The ring, or a lunar halo, is caused by the refraction and reflection of light from ice crystals that are suspended in thin, wispy, cirrus or cirrostratus clouds that are at high altitudes. As light passes through the ice crystals, it is bent at a 22-degree angle, creating a halo of 22 degrees.
What is the Moon’s crust made of?
In terms of elements, the lunar crust is composed primarily of oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium, and aluminium, but important minor and trace elements such as titanium, uranium, thorium, potassium, and hydrogen are present as well.
What are the 3 surfaces of the Moon?
While the craters, highlands and maria are the moon’s three main landforms, the moon’s surface has a number of other highly visible features. For example, some impact craters have bright rays that shoot outward from the center. Also, the moon has a number of rilles, which are long, thin tunnels or trenches.
Why is Moon’s surface covered by dust?
Due to myriad meteorite impacts (with speeds in the range of 20 km/s), lunar surface is covered with a thin layer of dust. The dust is electrically charged and sticks to any surface with which it comes in contact.
What covers the other side of the Moon?
The far side of the Moon has fewer of the smooth, dark spots, called maria, that cover the side that faces Earth. Instead, the far side is covered with craters of all sizes.
Does anything go around the Moon?
It does not have any known objects. It seems unlikely that it would happen, although it could theoretically happen for a short period of time. There are few stable orbits around the Moon, and even fewer that are likely to remain stable for any length of time.
What is the Moon’s crust called?
The Moon’s crust is a composed of a dusty outer rock layer called a regolith. The term regolith refers to a rocky layer resembling concrete, which has been broken and blasted apart, then fused back together somehow. Like the Earth’s crust, the Moon’s crust seems to contain some magnetism.
Is the Moon a star or a rock?
In reality, the moon is not considered a star. While it shines just like many of the stars in the sky, its light comes from the sun, not itself. To be a star, a celestial body must be capable of igniting itself because of its mass. The moon’s core has never ignited, so it does not fall under the definition of a star.
Is the core of the Moon hot?
At its very centre, the Moon has a solid iron core with a temperature of between 1,327°C and 1427°C. This is hot enough to create a surrounding molten liquid iron outer core, but not hot enough to warm the surface. The mantle which envelops the core is roughly 1,000 kilometres thick.
Is there gold on the Moon?
The moon isn’t so barren after all. A 2009 NASA mission—in which a rocket slammed into the moon and a second spacecraft studied the blast—revealed that the lunar surface contains an array of compounds, including gold, silver, and mercury, according to PBS.
Is the Moon solid rock?
The team’s findings suggest the moon possesses a solid, iron-rich inner core with a radius of nearly 150 miles and a fluid, primarily liquid-iron outer core with a radius of roughly 205 miles.
Is the Moon made of rock?
The Moon is made of rock and metal—just like the Earth and the other rocky planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars). The crust, the Moon’s outer shell, is covered by lunar soil, also called regolith: a blanket of fine rock particles, varying between three and 20 metres (10–65 feet) deep.
Why is moon dust toxic?
Lunar dust has silicate in it, a material commonly found on planetary bodies with volcanic activity. Miners on Earth suffer from inflamed and scarred lungs from inhaling silicate. On the Moon, the dust is so abrasive that it ate away layers of spacesuit boots and destroyed the vacuum seals of Apollo sample containers.
Is moon dust poisonous?
A study has recently shown that human neuron and lung cells exposed to simulated lunar dust experienced DNA damage and cell death, even in very small quantities. This isn’t totally unexpected. Earth dust can have similar effects, toxic or not. Volcanic ash has been known to cause bronchitis and emphysema when inhaled.
Is the Moon covered in sand?
Yes, the Moon is basically just a rock with a desert wasteland on its surface, just as the Earth is basically just a rock mostly covered with salt water. Sometimes, however, people like to get into the details rather than settle for just the basics.
What covers the Moon when it’s not full?
As the moon orbits the Earth, the amount that is in shadow changes constantly. There’s nothing physically covering it; the darkness is a result of your vantage point.
What did China find on the backside of the Moon?
Scientists found a single crystal of a new phosphate mineral while analyzing lunar basalt particles, which were collected from the moon two years ago by the Chang’e-5 mission.
Can you ever see the dark side of the moon?
Capturing the dark side
In reality it is no darker than any other part of the Moon’s surface as sunlight does in fact fall equally on all sides of the Moon. It is only ‘dark’ to us, as that hemisphere can never be viewed from Earth due to a phenomenon known as ‘Tidal Locking’.
Can we touch the Moon?
Twelve people have walked on the moon since humans landed there 50 years ago, but no one has ever directly touched its surface. Those astronauts wore spacesuits outside the lander. No one ever took off a glove or a boot while standing on the moon.
Can you walk on the surface of the Moon?
A total of 12 humans have stepped foot on the lunar surface, all of whom were part of the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972, according to NASA.