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Home , Moon, Theia, Theia (planet)

The anatomy of the

The Moon is about one quarter the of 384,000 km The hidden side of the Moon the . This makes it The Moon takes 27.3 days to revolve once – the same one of the biggest The Moon is about 384,000 km from the Earth and is amount of time it takes for the Moon to the Earth. in the 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 . km 12,756 km 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 ) 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 , and . means ‘’), that are actually ancient flows of lava.

The Moon does have an The Moon only has but it is very thin – more than a about 1% of the million million times less dense Earth’s and than the Earth’s. its is crater This means that only 0.17G the Sea of (Earth’s is 1G). left behind by This means that the 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 and is the brightest object in the of o Vapo ur n

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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 is about 50 km thick (in some The is 16 a giant 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 , silicon, rock and is about , , and other minerals. 1,400 km thick. Earth Lunar phases Crust After billions of New Mantle years of moon crater being pummeled by Waxing Lower meteorites and The highest 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 , which can be Inner up to 20 metres thick. 5.5km high! core Waxing gibbous

Earth Moon The Extreme The moon takes 27 High 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 , 13 years ago (when the collision the orbiting days of darkness and Third Earth was just 100 threw lots of material one 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 the size of both the Earth together to partly melted and made of mostly of iron about 480 km , known as Theia, and Theia into form the As the Moon 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 is smashed into the Earth. space. Moon. 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 , 1969 a giant V rocket blasted Three days later, the Service Module, The next day, Neil 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 () went Module onto the lunar surface. He and Edwin “Buzz” Moon. Six of those missions landed – performing their journey to the Moon. into orbit 65 above the surface of the Moon. became the first people to set foot on another . 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 craft back astronauts safely still the biggest and most it jettisoned each stage put the in the Service Command Module. into . to Earth. back to Earth. powerful rocket ever stage to shed rocket into orbit Module put built. It was 111 metres . 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 been bleached Service V bus Lunar rover from the lunar surface. Module (Moon buggy) by the Sun’s radiation. Lunar Module Space The Saturn , 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 either! 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 or a astronauts lived sun visor you can see Neil’s pair of . 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 ‘’ 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) glove Here, astronauts will be able to live, conduct scientific research and even mine for minerals and raw materials for space 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