Moons

Moons

Moons Many moons in our

Solar System They have craters,

volcanoes, possibly underground oceans

A radar mapping image made by the Cassini spacecraft of a flyoverarea on Saturn's giant moon Titan showing an ice volcano

Satellites Natural (not man

made) or artificial bodies that revolve around larger bodies such as planets are called satellites

Mercury and Venus have no natural satellites

All other planets have moons (satellites)

Luna: The Moon of the Earth Solar system is 4.6

billion years old Based this data from

lunar rocks brought back from Apollo mission

Surface of the Moon Impact craters on the

moon tell the age of the moon

If the surface is young, there hasn't been time for many craters to form

Different parts of the surface of the Moon exhibit different amounts of cratering and therefore are of different ages

Lunar Origins Formation of the moon

happened in three steps 1st Impact – large body

collided with earth, blasted part of Earth’s mantle in space

2nd Ejection – sent mantle debris from Earth and from impacting body (including its iron core)

3rd Formation – debris orbited around Earth and began to join together

Moon Formation http://vimeo.com/20

15273

Phases of the Moon

http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/moonphase.html

Waxing – sunlit fraction is getting larger Waning – sunlit fraction is getting

smaller Moon always gets same amount of

sun( same as Earth) You always see same side of the moon

Phases of the Moon Appearance of the

moon from its changing position relative to Earth and the sun

As moon revolves around Earth, amount of sunlight on the side of the moon that faces Earth changes

Called Phases

Waxing and Waning Waxing – sunlit

fraction is getting larger

Waning – sunlit fraction is getting smaller

Crescent – croissant shaped or fingernail clipping

Gibbous – bulging outward

Phases