Transmission #2 from Tycho (Overview)

"What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the Moon but that they set eye on Earth." Norman Cousins

Phase of the Moon for Today: Waning Gibbous 86% Full


Well it worked. I have to admit not too familiar with blogging, but some of my students do it all of the time. Since I was supposed to start my journal last week I think I'll review what I've discovered in the past week regarding the moon. I have been feverishly reading The Modern Moon: A Personal View by Charles A. Wood in preparation for this course and have learned many new and amazing things about the Moon.
These are as follows:

• the Moon takes approx. 28 days to orbit the Earth we call this a lunar cycle and I will experience approx 3 cycles over the duration of the course
• the current scientific theory about how the Moon formed is the giant impact hypothesis in which a rogue planet collided with early Earth breaking apart and as a result the Moon was formed - check out this cool picture
• most of the rocks on the moon were formed by volcanic processes
• the Moon has no dark side - it's called the far side
• the black areas on the moon are known as maria - Latin for seas as described by Galileo Galilei - the first telescopic observer of the Moon
• the Moon has 8 phases in order - New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Waning Crescent
• the conditions on the Moon are quite harsh, consisting of extreme temperature fluctuations, no atmosphere to protect from EMR and less gravity wreaking havoc on the body
• there are 3 current space missions observing the Moon but on October 9th, 2009 one of the missions (LCROSS) will come to an end as the satellite and rocket making up LCROSS will collide with the Moon - see NASA release here
• A lunar eclipse is due to Earth's shadow covering the Moon and can only happen on a Full Moon but the reason it doesn't happen every month is due to the Moon having a 5 degree tilt
• 59% of the Moon can be seen due to longitudinal, latitudinal and diurnal librations of Moon and Earth
• the Moon rotates once every 29.5 days which interestingly is the same time it take to orbit the Earth - therefore we only see one side of the Moon-Don't believe me check out this activity-Moon Rotation
• The Moon is responsible for the tides on Earth - the closer the Moon the higher the tide and the further away the lower the tide.
• Water has recently been discovered on the Moon
• October 4th, 2009 was the Chinese Mooncake Festival

Questions I have

Why don't we name the Moon?, Is there a purpose for colonizing the Moon?, What if the Moon didn't exist?

Signing off from Tycho

KB