Top 9 Facts About The Moon

1. Moon dust has a powdery odor

When the Apollo astronauts entered their lunar modules, they discovered that their suits were coated with dust from the Moon's surface, according to Massey. "Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, an astronaut on the Apollo 17 mission, compared the scent to that of gunpowder. Some astronauts experienced a kind of "lunar hay fever" because to the dust. It took days for the congestion and sneezing to go away. Massey continues, "The fortunate thing is there is no breeze to blow it around.

2. It seemed considerably larger before

According to Massey, "The Moon began off about 10 times closer to the Earth than it is today." Imagine seeing the Moon 10 times larger while gazing up in the night sky. According to computer calculations, the Moon may have even been 12–19 times closer than it is now, at a distance of roughly 20,000–30,000 km as opposed to 384,000 km. And it keeps on revolving. "The Moon goes 3.78cm farther away each year due to a transfer of energy from the rotation and tidal bulges of the Earth." That's about the same pace as the growth of your fingernails.

3. The Moon started with a violent impact

According to Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, "the prevalent theory is that the Moon was created in a violent event between the proto-Earth, an early-stage Earth that was considerably larger than it is now, and an object (named "Theia") around the size of Mars. The Moon was created from debris that was sent into space. Recent studies seem to demonstrate that the Moon is composed of crustal material from the early Earth. The impact, which is referred to as the "Giant Impact Hypothesis," is thought to have taken place 4.5 billion years ago and would have been 100 million times more massive than the catastrophe that killed off the dinosaurs.

4. The craters hold the key to space history

According to Massey, the Moon's abundance of craters makes it possible to study the Solar System's "natural history" since it is not shielded from meteorites by an atmosphere. On Earth, there are 190 known impact craters, many of which are buried in water and vegetation, while there are millions on the Moon, including 5000 with a diameter of more than 20 km. "The Moon neatly maintains immaculate evidence of old structures and craters because its surface is inactive and undergoes fewer geological events (such volcanoes or erosion) than the Earth. As a result, it serves as an excellent laboratory or repository for research on our solar system.

5. Boiling point is reached on the surface

According to Massey, "the Moon has no protective atmosphere, therefore the surface suffers severe temperatures, from very cold on the far side, which is called the "night," to over boiling on the near side, which is called the "sunny." The temperature of the Moon may range from 123 degrees Celsius to -233 degrees Celsius, according to NASA. Its typical surface temperature ranges from -153 degrees Celsius at night to 107 degrees Celsius during the day.

6. Researchers have found water on the moon

According to Massey, "NASA has identified water in the soil and India's Chandrayaan-1 mission found water near to the poles of the Moon." Although it's not much—you may only be able to extract a litre from a cubic meter of soil—it raises the prospect of establishing bases on the Moon in the future.

7. The Moon always appears to you from the same side

The Moon spins on its axis, much as Earth does, but since this rotation only lasts around 27 days, or about the same amount of time as the 27.32 days it takes for the Moon to circle the Earth, you can only ever view one side of the Moon at a time. According to Massey, this phenomenon—also known as "tidal locking" or "caught rotation"—means that the opposite side of the Moon was entirely hidden until the advent of space travel. The far side is more cratered and rocky, with a stronger crust and less signs of volcanic activity, in contrast to the near side, which contains lunar maria, huge, dark plains that often conceal impact basins.

8. Lunar bases are approaching

Although it will be centuries before there are many humans living on the Moon, Massey believes that soon there may be scientific bases there, much like the Antarctic research stations. By the end of the 2020s, NASA wants to send humans back to the Moon. "According to planetary scientists, a colony may serve a variety of purposes, from enhancing the hunt for biological stuff to erecting a radio telescope insulated from Earth to better listen for extraterrestrial communications. We have barely begun to scratch the surface of the Moon, whose surface area is larger than both Europe and Africa put together.

9. Tidal bulges are a result of the Moon

Simply said, the gravitational pull of the Moon causes bulges in the water on Earth, according to Massey. On one side of the Earth, the Moon essentially causes water to rise, while on the other, where its gravitational attraction is less, the water bulges in the opposite way. As the Earth rotates, the bulges migrate throughout the seas, generating high and low tides all around the world. We would still experience tides without the moon, although they would be less pronounced since solar gravity also affects tides.