The moon is the brightest object in the night sky. On some nights, the moon looks like a shining circle of light. On others, it looks like a thin, silver fingernail. The moon does not make its own light. The light we see comes from the sun and bounces off the moon.
If the moon and Earth were side by side, the moon would look like a tennis ball next to a basketball. It looks bigger than the stars and as large as the sun because it is closer to Earth than any other natural object in space. But the moon is about 400 times smaller than the sun, and it is not all that close to Earth. A rocket journey from Earth to the moon and back takes about six days.
The moon is a huge rock that travels around Earth. Nothing lives on the moon. The moon has …show more content…
The dark patches are flat areas of rock covered by a thin layer of rocky soil. The rocky soil of the moon has tiny round bits of glass in it. Some of the rocks are made of hardened lava. Most of the light gray parts are filled with mountains and valleys. The moon also has many big, bowl-shaped holes called craters (-- removed HTML --) >.
There are so many craters on the moon that the moon has craters within craters. Some craters have hills or mountains in them or around them. Some are surrounded by light gray streaks. The largest crater has a floor covered by dark lava. It forms one eye of the “man in the moon.”
Many small craters were formed when meteoroids hit the moon. Meteoroids are rocks or other objects that travel through space. Many large craters probably formed when larger objects, such as comets or asteroids, hit the moon. A few craters look like the tops of volcanoes.
We cannot see all sides of the moon from Earth. The part of the moon we cannot see from Earth is called the far side. Pictures from spaceships have shown us what it looks like. U.S. astronauts also traveled around the far side in …show more content…
For example, the American Indians recorded that a hunt took place a certain number of “moons,” or months, ago. Muslim people use a calendar based on the moon.
Early people thought the moon was a powerful god or goddess. Some believed that the moon influenced life on Earth. Even today, many people believe that the moon affects the weather and people's behavior.
The famous Italian scientist Galileo made the first scientific study of the moon with a simple telescope in 1609. In 1959, the former Soviet Union launched Luna 2, the first spacecraft to reach the moon. In 1969, the U.S. astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission became the first people to set foot on the moon. The astronauts collected bits of rock and soil, took photographs, set up experiments, and explored the area nearby. In January 1998, the U.S. probe Lunar Prospector found evidence of ice on the moon. Scientists think that the polar regions may contain millions of tons of ice. The SMART-1 spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, went into orbit around the moon in 2004. The craft's instruments were designed to investigate the moon's origin and study the chemical elements on the moon's
If the moon and Earth were side by side, the moon would look like a tennis ball next to a basketball. It looks bigger than the stars and as large as the sun because it is closer to Earth than any other natural object in space. But the moon is about 400 times smaller than the sun, and it is not all that close to Earth. A rocket journey from Earth to the moon and back takes about six days.
The moon is a huge rock that travels around Earth. Nothing lives on the moon. The moon has …show more content…
The dark patches are flat areas of rock covered by a thin layer of rocky soil. The rocky soil of the moon has tiny round bits of glass in it. Some of the rocks are made of hardened lava. Most of the light gray parts are filled with mountains and valleys. The moon also has many big, bowl-shaped holes called craters (-- removed HTML --) >.
There are so many craters on the moon that the moon has craters within craters. Some craters have hills or mountains in them or around them. Some are surrounded by light gray streaks. The largest crater has a floor covered by dark lava. It forms one eye of the “man in the moon.”
Many small craters were formed when meteoroids hit the moon. Meteoroids are rocks or other objects that travel through space. Many large craters probably formed when larger objects, such as comets or asteroids, hit the moon. A few craters look like the tops of volcanoes.
We cannot see all sides of the moon from Earth. The part of the moon we cannot see from Earth is called the far side. Pictures from spaceships have shown us what it looks like. U.S. astronauts also traveled around the far side in …show more content…
For example, the American Indians recorded that a hunt took place a certain number of “moons,” or months, ago. Muslim people use a calendar based on the moon.
Early people thought the moon was a powerful god or goddess. Some believed that the moon influenced life on Earth. Even today, many people believe that the moon affects the weather and people's behavior.
The famous Italian scientist Galileo made the first scientific study of the moon with a simple telescope in 1609. In 1959, the former Soviet Union launched Luna 2, the first spacecraft to reach the moon. In 1969, the U.S. astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission became the first people to set foot on the moon. The astronauts collected bits of rock and soil, took photographs, set up experiments, and explored the area nearby. In January 1998, the U.S. probe Lunar Prospector found evidence of ice on the moon. Scientists think that the polar regions may contain millions of tons of ice. The SMART-1 spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, went into orbit around the moon in 2004. The craft's instruments were designed to investigate the moon's origin and study the chemical elements on the moon's