Seven interesting facts: Earth satellite

A beautiful and mysterious moon - a satellite of the Earth - invariably affects the life of our planet, delights, excites the imagination. There are many interesting facts, mysteries and secrets associated with it.

1. Origin

Most scientists believe that the Moon was formed after a collision of the Earth with a smaller planet. As a result, an unknown planet left a lot of debris that formed a ring around the Earth. After a long time, this "belt" was concentrated in one "clot", which turned into the current satellite of the Earth.

2. Shape and trajectory of rotation

The moon in shape is more like an egg than a ball. And it does not rotate in a circular orbit, but in an elliptical orbit. Approaching the Earth and the distance, the Moon provokes powerful tides and makes the weather unpredictable, and its attraction slows the rotation of our planet. Before this heavenly body appeared, the Earth rotated faster - accordingly, the days were noticeably shorter.

3. The Moon surface

During his life, the satellite of the planet Earth has experienced very difficult times. Approximately four billion years ago, the Moon, just like the Earth, was subjected to a hard meteoric bombardment, after which there remained a large number of non-healing "wounds" - huge craters. The largest of them - Aitken, from the Earth is not visible, it is located near the southern pole of the Moon. And the most impressive of the visible craters, with a diameter of over 290 km, is called Bailey.

4. The Divine Moon

Almost all ancient civilizations noticed the significant influence that the Earth satellite has, so the Moon in many religious cults was revered as a deity. The ancient Greeks had as many as three goddesses of the moon: the new moon - Artemis, the full moon - Selena and the reverse side of the moon - Hecate.

Some Greek philosophers sincerely believed that a wonderful companion of the Earth aggressively affects the quality of the fluid in the human brain, so you can go crazy if you look at the night luminary for a long time.

5. Features of "life" on the moon

Since this heavenly body does not have an atmosphere, twilight does not exist there either - the day and night change almost instantaneously. Day and night you can see only the black starry sky and a huge disk of the Earth.

The temperature difference on the surface of the Moon is truly enormous - from minus one hundred to plus one hundred and sixty degrees Celsius. For comparison, on Earth, the maximum recorded difference was from minus forty-nine to plus seven degrees Celsius.

Here often there are "moonquakes" as a result of gravitational interaction with our planet. At the same time, there is no wind or moisture, therefore the traces of astronauts remain untouched for millions of years.

Gravity on the moon is six times smaller than the earth's, so an ordinary person could easily raise a weight equal to his own.

6. Moon Cemetery

Yes, Earth's satellite already stores human remains. There lies part of the ashes of Eugene Shoemaker - an American scientist who devoted his life to geology and planetology. In 1999, the capsule with his ashes was sent on board the research station Lunar Prospector and fell to the lunar surface when the station completed its mission.

In addition, on the surface of the celestial body there is a small aluminum monument to the deceased astronauts, which is made in the form of an eight-centimeter figure of an astronaut in a spacesuit. And next to this monument there is a sign on which the names of people who gave their lives for the sake of space exploration are written down.

7. Moon avatars

At the end of 2010, developers from NASA proposed a new project for the development of our satellite, which was conditionally called "Avatars". The idea is quite in tune with the popular film: robots are planted on the lunar surface, and scientists on the Earth wear special suits and control these robots with their movements. Thanks to the project, it will be possible to explore the Earth's satellite without leaving its native planet. And who knows what other surprises await mankind on the lunar expanse ...