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The Anatomy of the Moon

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The Anatomy of the Moon The anatomy of the Moon The Moon is about one quarter the diameter of 384,000 km The hidden side of the Moon the Earth. This makes it The Moon takes 27.3 days to revolve once – the same one of the biggest moons The Moon is about 384,000 km from the Earth and is amount of time it takes for the Moon to orbit the Earth. in the Solar System and slowly moving further away (about 3.8 cm a year). When it This is why we only ever see one side of the Moon. the biggest compared to 3474 was first formed it was only 23,000 km away. its host planet. km 12,756 km Spacecraft have seen its hidden side and it looks very different to the Moon we are used to seeing! Although it is difficult to see when you look up at the The lighter coloured areas are the lunar highlands, Moon, the lunar surface is actually full of interesting called terrae (which means ‘land’ in latin) and the dark features. It is covered with craters created by millions of areas are relatively flat plains, called maria (which years of impacts with meteorites, asteroids and comets. means ‘sea’), that are actually ancient flows of lava. The Moon does have an atmosphere The Moon only has but it is very thin – more than a about 1% of the million million times less dense Earth’s mass and than the Earth’s. Plato its gravity is crater This means that only 0.17G the footprints Sea of (Earth’s is 1G). left behind by Rain This means that the Apollo astronauts astronauts weigh a lot less Mons 15 could last for Huygens on the Moon millions of Kepler Sea of than they do years! crater Copernicus Serenity on Earth. crater The Moon is the Earth’s largest natural 17 Sea of M o satellite and is the brightest object in the Ocean of o Vapo ur n i Storm m night sky after the Sun. It is the only place a g e 12 s : in the Solar System, other than Earth, that Sea of N Apollo Sea of A S humans have visited. landing Tranquility Crisis A www.stfc.ac.uk Copyright: Ben Gilliland, STFC sites 14 11 How the Moon was formed What is inside the Moon? Scientists think that the Moon was formed during Sea of Sea of The crust is about 50 km thick (in some The mantle is 16 a giant collision about 4.5 billion years ago. Moisture Clouds Sea of places it is much thinner, or thicker) and is made of solid Fertility made up of a mixture of oxygen, silicon, rock and is about magnesium, iron, and other minerals. 1,400 km thick. Theia Earth Lunar phases Crust After billions of New Mantle years of Tycho moon crater being pummeled by Waxing Lower meteorites and The highest crescent mantle asteroids, the lunar mountain on surface is covered in a the Moon, Outer core 1 fine-grained layer of dust Mons First quarter Huygens, is called regolith, which can be Inner up to 20 metres thick. 5.5km high! core Waxing gibbous Earth Moon The tides Extreme temperatures Full moon The moon takes 27 High tide High tide days to rotate once 2 Low tide Low tide on its axis. So most Waning 3 places on the surface gibbous of experiences about 1. About 4.5 billion 2. The 3. Over time, 13 days of sunlight, 13 years ago (when the collision the orbiting days of darkness and Third Earth was just 100 threw lots of material one day of twilight. quarter The lower million years old), a rock from came -153°C 123°C mantle is The outer core is liquid The inner core is a solid protoplanet the size of both the Earth together to partly melted and made of mostly ball of iron about 480 km Mars, known as Theia, and Theia into form the As the Moon orbits the Earth, its gravity causes the Earth’s Its thin atmosphere means that temperatures vary Waning and is about iron. It is about 650 km wide. Its temperature is smashed into the Earth. space. Moon. oceans to bulge toward it. This is what we call the tides. wildly between the dark and light sides. crescent 150 km thick. in diameter. about 1400°C. Only 12 people have Visiting the Moon walked on the Moon. On July 16, 1969 a giant Saturn V rocket blasted Three days later, the Apollo 11 Service Module, The next day, astronaut Neil Armstrong piloted the Lunar Between 1968 and 1972, nine Apollo missions visited the off – carrying Apollo 11 and three astronauts on Command Module and Lunar Module (lander) went Module onto the lunar surface. He and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Moon. Six of those missions landed – performing their journey to the Moon. into orbit 65 miles above the surface of the Moon. became the first people to set foot on another world. experiments and collected samples of lunar material. Command 7 Module 4 separation Ascent 2 3 Stage 6 5. The Lunar 6. At the end of 7. A rocket 8. Finally, the 8 Heat Module carried two the mission, the in the Command Second stage Third stage Service Command Lunar shield separation separation Module Module Module astronauts onto the Ascent stage Service Module 5 Moon’s surface. separated and Module separated and One astronaut rocketed the pushed the returned the 1. The Saturn V rocket is 2. During launch, 3. The third 4. A rocket stayed behind in the astronauts back craft back astronauts safely still the biggest and most it jettisoned each stage put the in the Service Command Module. into Lunar orbit. to Earth. back to Earth. powerful rocket ever stage to shed rocket into orbit Module put built. It was 111 metres weight. Each around the Earth the craft into tall (taller than a stage pushed the and then pushed orbit around 30-storey building). It had rocket further it towards the the Moon. The flags The Moon visits us three rocket stages. into space. Moon. planted on the Moon by Apollo The Apollo missions brought back Command astronauts 382 kilograms of lunar rocks, core 1 Module have probably samples, pebbles, sand and dust Saturn London Lunar rover been bleached Service V bus Lunar rover from the lunar surface. Module (Moon buggy) white by the Sun’s radiation. Lunar Module Space The Saturn Apollo 15, 16, and The samples have been used to study housing Shuttle V rocket 17 astronauts used In total, the rovers the early history of the Moon, the was twice a battery-powered travelled 90 km across Earth, and the inner Solar System. as tall as rover to explore the lunar surface. the Space the surface. It The STFC runs the UK’s only ‘Lunar Shuttle. could carry two Loans’ scheme, which allows schools astronauts, their and scientific organisations to borrow equipment and samples. samples of the Lunar material brought back by the Apollo astronauts. Saturn V rocket Look at the Moon Antennae Lunar spacesuit Will we go back? You don’t need to visit the Moon to This picture of “Buzz” Oxygen The last time a human set foot on the Moon was in Second stage stage Second enjoy stage Third it and you don’t need a Aldrin was taken by 1972. Today, a number of countries have plans to During their stay tank telescope either! Neil Armstrong not only send astronauts back to the Moon but also on the Moon, the You can see lots of interesting Window Gold-plated (if you look carefully, set up permanent bases in next few of decades. features with the naked eye or a astronauts lived sun visor you can see Neil’s pair of binoculars. You can easily and slept in the reflection in Ascent Ascent Stage. Image: NASA see the dark and light patches, stage Oxygen Buzz’s visor) which are the lunar ‘seas’ and Lunar module hose highlands. You might even be able to see the giant Tycho crater. Landing legs Quarter moon Descent Pressurised stage liquid-cooled First stage rocket First stage spacesuit Urine collection Watch system (yes, astronauts Craters peed in their cast Lunar spacesuits) shadows glove Here, astronauts will be able to live, conduct scientific research and even mine for minerals and raw materials for space exploration and industry back on Earth. The worst time to look at the Moon is during a full Moon when sunlight hits It is hoped that these lunar settlements will be able to the surface straight on, which test the technology that will eventually allow us to set bleaches out the features. The best up a permanent manned colony on Mars! time is during the first or last quarter when sunlight hits the surface from the side, which casts shadows that highlight the Moon’s features. Image: NASA www.stfc.ukri.org Copyright: Ben Gilliland, STFC.
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