The Moon – Earth’s Natural Satellite

What is a satellite?

Satellite – an object that orbits a more massive object Ex: The Moon Ex: Moons of other planets

Many of the planets have satellites

The moon stays in place because of Earths’ gravity

There is 240,000 miles separating Earth and the Moon About the size from New York to LA 100

times If a plane took us to the moon it would

take us 20 days It took space ships about three days

We only see one side of the moon

Different Parts of the Moon

The side of the moon that we see is referred to as the near side of the moon Most of this side of the moon is the dark

colored features, with some white features

The side looking away from Earth is called the far side of the moon Most of this side of the moon is the light

color that we see, with very few black spots

Sides of the Moon

Layers of the Moon

Crust, just like earth thing only about 40 miles thick

Mantle, makes up most of the Moon, made of iron and magnesium

Core, material from here did not reach the Moon’s surface, so we do not know much about it.

Parts of the moon

Mare – The dark area on the moon The Latin word for sea, however,

there is no water on the moon

Highlands – The light colored areas on the moon These areas are higher in

altitude than mare

The moon has no water, oceans, clouds, or life

Craters

The highlands on the moon have many round features on them, these are called impact craters Space “junk” hit the moon and left these

holes These collisions happened quite

frequently when the solar system was forming, not as frequently today

Craters

Some impact craters filled with molten rock, or lava from beneath the Moon’s surface The lava eventually filled some of the

craters, hardened, and this is what we see as maria

How did it form?

Earth and Moon have similar crusts and mantles.

Scientists think that two space bodies hit each other. 1. Most of the material formed Earth’s

core 2. Little bits and pieces formed Earth

and Moon’s crust and mantle 3. Pieces that we left formed into the

moon and started to orbit earth Happened quickly – only about a

year!