Category Man and the Moon

          Even if there are a thousand stars in the sky, it will look a bit dull if we can’t spot the Moon. It is the brightest object in the night sky. But, the Moon does not have a light of its own. How ironic!

          Moonlight is produced when sunlight is reflected by the white dust on the Moon’s surface. The Moon will reflect only 3-12 per cent of the sunlight that hits its surface.

          The other factors that influence the brightness of the Moon include the movement of the Moon around the Earth and the simultaneous movement of the Earth around the Sun.

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          Some of you might have dressed up as astronauts for your school fancy dress competition. Was it easy for you to walk around in the costume? Surely not.

          An astronaut has to carry equipment with necessary supplies like oxygen. Their space suits are usually very heavy, weighing more than 90 kilograms. But, they walk around quite easily. This is because of the Moon’s lower gravitational pull.

          The Moon’s mass is 81 times smaller than the mass of the Earth. As a result, the force of gravity on the Moon is six times weaker than that on the surface of the Earth. A bag that would weigh six kilograms on Earth would weigh just one kilogram on the Moon. Astronauts feel lighter because of this reason and walk easily on the surface of the Moon.

Picture Credit : Google

          Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon in 1969. If one were to visit the Moon now, one could still find the footprints that he left behind in 1969.

          If you leave a footprint on sand or mud on Earth, either wind or rain would wash it away and it would soon disappear. On the other hand, the footprints left on the Moon last almost forever. Wonder why? Unlike on Earth, there is no wind or water on the Moon to wash it off.

          Therefore, the footprints won’t be eroded and will last for a really long time. So don’t expect to do something mischievous on the Moon and get away with it as your footprints will give you away!

Picture Credit : Google

          We know that meteors fall like missiles on the surface of the Moon as there is no atmosphere to protect it. Instead of water, comets and chunks of asteroids rain on the surface of the Moon and their impact creates craters. These are known as impact craters.

          Craters are formed due to powerful volcanic explosions as well. When the Moon’s surface is pushed upwards by melted rock, hot lava and gases gush out of it, giving rise to craters. Some craters are more than two billion years old. Generally, the age of a large crater is determined by counting the number of smaller craters it contains.

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          The Moon’s surface is covered with flat, circular sunken areas known as craters. Some craters like Clavius are so big that they can be seen even without the help of a telescope. Clavius is 235 kilometres wide and is surrounded by huge mountains. Some craters however, are very small in diameter.

          The arrangement of mountains around a large crater is peculiar; they form a circular wall. These mountains slope down gently towards the outer surface while they form a steep slope inside. When Galileo first observed craters, they looked like cups. He named craters so from the Latin word for cup.

Picture Credit : Google

          We know that the Moon does not have a protective layer of atmosphere around it. Likewise, there is no wind, rain or clouds on the Moon. There is only vacuum, and sound cannot travel through vacuum. Therefore, unaided communication is not possible on the Moon. This problem can be solved with the help of a radio.

          The helmets that astronauts wear are equipped with a device that would convert the sound waves to radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic in nature and can travel through vacuum. These radio waves are in turn transmitted to the ground or to their fellow astronauts.

Picture Credit : Google