Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.armaghplanet.com/pdf/BT_PDF/Moon%20Poster.pdf Дата изменения: Tue Sep 20 18:50:33 2011 Дата индексирования: Tue Oct 2 00:41:00 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: annular solar eclipse

moon poster new AW

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a guide to the MOON
THE MOON'S VITAL STATISTICS
Diameter: 2,160 miles. Average distance from Earth: 238,855 miles Equatorial circumference: 6,783 miles Gravity: 1/6th of that exerted by the Earth Age: about 4,527 million years Average surface temperature: -23oC Period of orbit around Earth: about 27.3 days Lunation (period between Full Moons): 29.4 days.

THE MOON - OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOUR
The Moon is our closest astronomical neighbour and the brightest object in the night sky. It has no light of its own, however, and instead reflects light from the Sun. It is therefore sunlight that enables us to see the enormous craters on the Moon. The Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite. From, here it appears almost as big as the Sun. In fact, it is only a fiftieth of the size of the Earth. Nonetheless, it is the most studied object in space; and the only one, apart from our own planet, on which human beings have walked. The phases of the Moon have been used as the basis of calendars since prehistoric times. Its gravitational pull causes most of the Earth's tidal activity. More that 70 spacecraft have been sent to the Moon: 12 men have walked on it and 382kg of rock and soil has been brought back to Earth. Almost 40 years after man last stood upon its surface, the Moon's power to inspire and intrigue remains undimmed.

MEN ON THE MOON
Although Russia had successfully landed an unmanned spacecraft (Luna 9) on the Moon in 1966, the crew of Apollo 8 in December 1968, were the first humans to leave Earth orbit and circle the Moon. After two more "dress rehearsal" missions, in July 1969, Apollo 11's Lunar module `Eagle' landed on the Moon with just 45 seconds of fuel to spare. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon. Four months later, Apollo 12 made a successful landing, but Apollo 13 was forced to abort its mission after an explosion in the command module and used the Lunar lander as a `lifeboat' to get home. Apollo 15 was the first mission to use a Moon Rover, enabling the astronauts to explore a much wider area than the previous missions. Astronaut Gene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon in December 1972 on the Apollo 17 mission. Apollo 18, 19, and 20 were cancelled to make funds available for the Space Shuttle programme. While the Americans continued their manned missions, in 1970 Russia landed The Lunokhod robotic lunar rover. Lunokhod's original mission was to survey sites for later manned landings. Instead it was used to explore the lunar surface, controlled by a six man team on earth. After many set backs, including several launch pad explosions, the Russians finally abandoned their manned Moon landing programme in 1974.

OBSERVING THE MOON
The Moon has no atmosphere, no seasons and no life. The lack of atmosphere means there is no weather and no wind. The view with your telescope is virtually as good as if you were visiting it in a spacecraft. Viewing with a magnification of 100, on a night when our own atmosphere is steady, you are getting the same view that the Apollo astronauts had when passing just 2,500 miles from it. Even with the naked eye, on a clear night an extraordinary amount of detail can be discerned. (Do not be fooled, however, by the impression that the Moon is larger when lower in the sky: This is a psychological illusion.) Some of the Moon's most spectacular features are in the north-west quarter, much of which is covered by the vast Oceanus Procellarum and the separate dramatic basin of the Mare Imbium. The latter resulted from an enormous impact comparatively late Apollo 15 in the Moon's history. You can see through a telescope that the lava Mare Imbrium flows from the impact have flooded earlier craters. The prominent white spot just below it is the Copernicus Oceanus magnificent Copernicus crater. Crater Procellarum
Apollo 12 The Tycho crater is the Moon's Apollo youngest large impact crater, and is more than 50 miles in diameter, with three-mile high walls. The "rays" that radiate out from it in all directions were once splashes of molten rock, thrown out by the impact that originally made the crater. In July 1969 Apollo 11 landed in the Mare Tranquillitatis, (Sea of Tranquility). Five other missions landed successfully. 14

2009 SPACE ODYSSEY

The Moon can appear larger when close to the horizon, but it's just an illusion.

Apollo 17

Mare Tranquilitatis
Apollo 11 Apollo 16

Tycho Crater

MOON ORIGINS
The most widely accepted theory for the Moon's origin, known as the "giant impactor" or "big splash" theory, is that a Mars sized body collided with the newly formed Earth, around 4.6 billion years ago, and debris from the impact produced molten rock from the Earth which combined with the other planet to form the Moon. Subsequent large impacts produced the Moon's basins, and smaller impacts the craters. A very small number of lunar craters may be of volcanic origin.

MOON GEOLOGY
The lunar crust is about 60 miles thick in the highland regions, but considerably thinner under the mare basins. A small iron core at the Moon's centre accounts for 4 per cent of its mass, but there is no overall magnetic field. It is geologically inert, apart from a few mild moonquakes (at depths of roughly 450 miles). Lunar soil, known as regolith, is a mixture of rock fragments churned up by meteorite impacts over billions of years. Because there is no wind on the Moon, the footprints made by the Apollo Astronauts will remain unchanged for many centuries.


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THE SPACE RACE
Like many advances in technology, the space programme has its roots in conflict. The German rockets that targeted Britain during World War 2 were created by Wernher von Braun, an SS officer and member of the Nazi party. Von Braun was the central figure in Germany's pre-war rocket development program, responsible for the design and realisation of the deadly V-2 combat rocket. After the war, he and some of his rocket team were taken to the United States as part of the then secret Operation Overcast. In 1955, ten years after entering the country, von Braun became a naturalised U.S. citizen.

1962 Alan Shepard, Jr. becomes the first American astronaut in space. 1962 John Glenn, Jr. becomes the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. 1963 The first woman in space is Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
Wernher von Braun

1961: President Kennedy commits the US to `the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safe to the Earth'. 1966: Luna 9 (unmanned) achieves the first soft landing on the Moon; unmanned US probe, Surveyor 1, also lands four months later. 1967: Apollo 1 explodes during launch-pad test, killing three astronauts: Edward White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee. 1968: Apollo 8 is the first manned mission to orbit the Moon.

Alan Shepherd

Von Braun worked on the American intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program before joining NASA, where he served as director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. He is generally regarded as the father of the United States space programme. The space race began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. Soviet Premier Khrushchev wanted to show that communist technology was superior. President Kennedy wanted to beat the Soviets to the moon. Speaking about the prospect of sending astronauts to the moon in 1961, Kennedy said, `No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space. And none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish'. THE SPACE RACE TIMELINE 1957 The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. `Sputnik' is the Russian word for `Traveller'. 1958 The United States launches its first satellite, Explorer I. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is formed in the United States. NASA is the federal agency devoted to exploring space. 1959: Soviet Union's Luna1 probe passes near the Moon. In the same year, Luna 2 lands (violently) on the Moon and Luna 3 photographs its far side. All three are unmanned.

Apollo 1 crew

1969: In a "dress rehearsal" mission two astronauts from Apollo 10 descend to within 15 kilometres of the lunar surface. Two months later, on 16 July, Apollo 11's Lunar Excursion Module lands on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon; Michael Collins remains on the main Apollo craft. Four months later, Apollo 12 (astronauts Conrad, Bean, Gordon) has a successful landing. 1970: Apollo 13 aborts mission. Apollo 18, 19, and 20 missions, scheduled for 1972-1973, are cancelled to make funds available for the Space Shuttle programme. Unmanned Soviet probe Luna 16 retrieves rock and dust from the Moon. 1971: Successful lunar landing missions by Apollo 14 (astronauts Shepard, Mitchell, Roosa) and Apollo 15 (Scott, Irwin, Worden). 1972: Successful lunar landing missions by Apollo 16 (Young, Duke, Mattingly) and Apollo 17 (Cernan, Schmitt, Evans). The latter, in particular, yields large amounts of geological data ­ but marks the end of the Apollo programme. 1974: Soviet Union abandons its manned Moon project.

Yuri Gagarin

1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit the Earth.

THE PHASES OF THE MOON

LUNAR TIDES
Tides are created because the Earth and the Moon are attracted to each other, just like magnets are attracted to each other. The Moon tries to pull at anything on the Earth to bring it closer. But, the Earth is able to hold onto everything except the water. Since the water is always moving, the Earth cannot hold onto it, and the moon is able to pull at it. Each day, there are two high tides and two low tides. The ocean is constantly moving from high tide to low tide, and then back to high tide. There is about 12 hours and 25 minutes between the two high tides. Tides are the periodic rise and falling of large bodies of water. Winds and currents move the surface water causing waves. The gravitational attraction of the Moon causes the oceans to bulge out in the direction of the moon. Another bulge occurs on the opposite side, since the Earth is also being pulled toward the Moon (and away from the water on the far side). Ocean levels fluctuate daily as the Sun, Moon and earth interact. As the Moon travels around the Earth and as they travel together around the Sun, the combined gravitational forces cause the world's oceans to rise and fall. Since the Earth is rotating while this is happening, two tides occur each day. TYPES OF TIDES When the Sun and Moon are aligned, there are exceptionally strong gravitational forces, causing very high and very low tides which are called Spring tides, though they have nothing to do with the season. When the Sun and Moon are not aligned, the gravitational forces cancel each other out, and the tides are not as dramatically high and low. These are called neap tides. Spring tides occur when the Moon is full or new, and the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun are combined. Neap Tides occur during the Moon's quarter phases.

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As the Moon orbits the Earth, it is seen to go through a sequence of phases as the illuminated proportion of the visible hemisphere changes. One complete sequence, called a `lunation', takes 29.4 days. At the crescent phase, the dark side of the Moon is seen to be faintly illuminated by `earthshine' ­ sunlight reflected from the Earth. The Moon rotates on its axis as it orbits the Earth. Because both the rotation and orbit are similar, about once every 28 days, we only ever see one side of the Moon facing the Earth. The hidden, dark side of the Moon can never be seen by astronomers on Earth without the use of orbiting space craft. But this does not mean it is literally dark. A more accurate description is that is the far side because it is simply the side farthest away from the Earth. ECLIPSES A total eclipse occurs when the Moon's orbit brings it between the Earth and the Sun, and the Moon covers the Sun in its entirety. This causes areas of the Earth to darken during daylight beneath the Moon's shadow. In lunar eclipses the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon and the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon, making it appear red. PHASES The Moon presents different shapes - or phases - in the night sky: from a thin silver crescent to a full bright circle. These phases are called new moon, first quarter, full Moon and last quarter. A new moon is when the Moon's sunlit side is away from the Earth. When the moon changes from new to full it is said to be waxing. When less and less can be seen, from full to new moon, it is waning. It is a crescent Moon when smaller than a half Moon and `gibbous' when larger.

THE MOON

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Poster design by Jonathan Simms

THE MOON

2009 SPACE ODYSSEY

Don't miss tomorrow's poster - The Planets

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Don't miss tomorrow's poster - The Planets

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