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From=20"http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/moon.htm"...
> The Moon
>
> I had the ambition to not only go farther than man had gone before,
> but to go as far as it was possible to go. - Captain Cook
>
> by Rosanna L. Hamilton, Copyright =A9 1995.
>
> [=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
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> Table of Contents
>
> * The Moon (This Page)
> o Moon Introduction
> o Moon Statistics
> o Moon Animations
> o Views of the Moon
> * Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
> * Chronology of Moon Exploration
> * Apollo Landing Missions
> o Prologue
> o Spacecraft, Suits, and Rovers
> o Precursors to the Landing Missions
> o Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, Apollo 14, Apollo 15,
> Apollo 16, Apollo 17
> o Epilogue: When might we go back to the Moon?
> * Educator's Guide to Eclipses
> * Educator's Guide to Moon Phases
> * Moon Image and Animation Index
> * Apollo Image and Animation Index
>
> Additional Resources
>
> * Clementine Lunar Images & Information
> * NASA-JSC Digital Image Collection
> * Lunar Discovery Orbiter (LDO)
> * Lunar Rover Initiative
>
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> Moon Introduction
>
> The Moon has fascinated mankind throughout the ages. By simply viewing
> with the naked eye, one can discern two major types of terrain:
> relatively bright highlands and darker plains. By the middle of the
> 17th century, Galileo and other early astronomers made telescopic
> observations, noting an almost endless overlapping of craters. It has
> also been known for more than a century that the Moon is less dense
> than the Earth. Although a certain amount of information was
> ascertained about the Moon before the space age, this new era has
> revealed many secrets barely imaginable before that time. Current
> knowledge of the Moon is greater than for any other solar system
> object except Earth. This lends to a greater understanding of geologic
> processes and further appreciation of the complexity of terrestrial
> planets.
>
> On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step onto the
> surface of the Moon. He was followed by Edwin Aldrin, both of the
> Apollo 11 mission. They and other moon walkers experienced the effects
> of no atmosphere. Radio communications were used because sound waves
> can only be heard by travelling through the medium of air. The lunar
> sky is always black because diffraction of light requires an
> atmosphere. The astronauts also experienced gravitational differences.
> The moon's gravity is one-sixth that of the Earth's; a man who weighs
> 82 kilograms (180 pounds) on Earth weighs only 14 kilograms (30
> pounds) on the Moon.
>
> The Moon is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles) distant from the Earth.
> Its diameter is 3,476 kilometers (2,160 miles). Both the rotation of
> the Moon and its revolution around Earth takes 27 days, 7 hours, and
> 43 minutes. This synchronous rotation is caused by an unsymmetrical
> distribution of mass in the Moon, which has allowed Earth's gravity to
> keep one lunar hemisphere permanently turned toward Earth. Optical
> liberations have been observed telescopically since the mid-17th
> century. Very small but real liberations (maximum about O=B0.O4) are
> caused by the effect of the Sun's gravity and the eccentricity of
> Earth's orbit, perturbing the Moon's orbit and allowing cyclical
> preponderances of torque in both east-west and north-south directions.
>
> Four nuclear powered seismic stations were installed during the Apollo
> project to collect seismic data about the interior of the Moon. There
> is only residual tectonic activity due to cooling and tidal forcing,
> but other moonquakes have been caused by meteor impacts and artificial
> means, such as deliberately crashing the Lunar Module into the moon.
> The results have shown the Moon to have a crust 60 kilometers (37
> miles) thick at the center of the near side. If this crust is uniform
> over the Moon, it would constitute about 10% of the Moon's volume as
> compared to the less than 1% on Earth. The seismic determinations of a
> crust and mantle on the Moon indicate a layered planet with
> differentiation by igneous processes. There is no evidence for an
> iron-rich core unless it were a small one. Seismic information has
> influenced theories about the formation and evolution of the Moon.
>
> The Moon was heavily bombarded early in its history, which caused many
> of the original rocks of the ancient crust to be thoroughly mixed,
> melted, buried, or obliterated. Meteoritic impacts brought a variety
> of "exotic" rocks to the Moon so that samples obtained from only 9
> locations produced many different rock types for study. The impacts
> also exposed Moon rocks of great depth and distributed their fragments
> laterally away from their places of origin, making them more
> accessible. The underlying crust was also thinned and cracked,
> allowing molten basalt from the interior to reach the surface. Because
> the Moon has neither an atmosphere nor any water, the components in
> the soils do not weather chemically as they would on Earth. Rocks more
> than 4 billion years old still exist there, yielding information about
> the early history of the solar system that is unavailable on Earth.
> Geological activity on the Moon consists of occasional large impacts
> and the continued formation of the regolith. It is thus considered
> geologically dead. With such an active early history of bombardment
> and a relatively abrupt end of heavy impact activity, the Moon is
> considered fossilized in time.
>
> The Apollo and Luna missions returned 382 kilograms (840 pounds) of
> rock and soil from which three major surface materials have been
> studied: the regolith, the maria, and the terrae. Micrometeorite
> bombardment has thoroughly pulverized the surface rocks into a
> fine-grained debris called the regolith. The regolith, or lunar soil,
> is unconsolidated mineral grains, rock fragments, and combinations of
> these which have been welded by impact-generated glass. It is found
> over the entire Moon, with the exception of steep crater and valley
> walls. It is 2 to 8 meters (7 to 26 feet) thick on the maria and may
> exceed 15 meters (49 feet) on the terrae, depending on how long the
> bedrock underneath it has been exposed to meteoritic bombardment.
>
> The dark, relatively lightly cratered maria cover about 16% of the
> lunar surface and is concentrated on the nearside of the Moon, mostly
> within impact basins. This concentration may be explained by the fact
> that the Moon's center of mass is offset from its geometric center by
> about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in the direction of Earth, probably
> because the crust is thicker on the farside. It is possible,
> therefore, that basalt magmas rising from the interior reached the
> surface easily on the nearside, but encountered difficulty on the
> farside. Mare rocks are basalt and most date from 3.8 to 3.1 billion
> years. Some fragments in highland breccias date to 4.3 billion years
> and high resolution photographs suggest some mare flows actually embay
> young craters and may thus be as young as 1 billion years. The maria
> average only a few hundred meters in thickness but are so massive they
> frequently deformed the crust underneath them which created fault-like
> depressions and raised ridges.
>
> The relatively bright, heavily cratered highlands are called terrae.
> The craters and basins in the highlands are formed by meteorite impact
> and are thus older than the maria, having accumulated more craters.
> The dominant rock type in this region contain high contents of
> plagioclase feldspar (a mineral rich in calcium and aluminum) and are
> a mixture of crustal fragments brecciated by meteorite impacts. Most
> terrae breccias are composed of still older breccia fragments. Other
> terrae samples are fine-grained crystalline rocks formed by shock
> melting due to the high pressures of an impact event. Nearly all of
> the highland breccias and impact melts formed about 4.0 to 3.8 billion
> years ago. The intense bombardment began 4.6 billion years ago, which
> is the estimated time of the Moon's origin.
>
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> Moon Statistics
>
> Mass (kg) ......................................... 7.349e+22
> Mass (Earth =3D 1) ................................. 1.2298e-02
> Equatorial radius (km) .............................. 1,737.4
> Equatorial radius (Earth =3D 1) .................... 2.7241e-01
> Mean density (gm/cm^3) ................................. 3.34
>
> Mean distance from Earth (km) ....................... 384,400
> Rotational period (days) ........................... 27.32166
> Orbital period (days) .............................. 27.32166
> Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) ......................... 1.03
>
> Orbital eccentricity ................................... 0.05
> Tilt of axis ........................................... 6.68=B0
> Orbital inclination ............................... 18.3-28.6=B0
>
> Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) ................... 1.62
> Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) .................... 2.38
>
> Visual geometric albedo ................................ 0.12
> Magnitude (Vo) ....................................... -12.74
> Mean surface temperature (day) ......................... 107=B0C
> Mean surface temperature (night) ...................... -153=B0C
> Maximum surface temperature ........................... 123=B0C
> Minimum surface temperature .......................... -233=B0C
>
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> [Image] Moon Animations
>
> * Galileo Moon Encounter - AVI, 8M. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
> * Time-lapse sequence of Earth moon system from Galileo - FLI,
> 382K.
> * A dramatic view the the moon with Venus in the distance - MPEG,
> 83K. (Courtesy Naval Research Laboratory)
> * Clementine images showing the Apollo 16 lunar landing site -
> MPEG, 212K. (Courtesy Naval Research Laboratory)
> * Astronauts walking near lunar lander and US flag - MPEG, 118K.
> * Collection of Apollo mission animations AVIs.
> * Large collection of Moon AVI animations from SEDS.
>
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> Views of the Moon
>
> The following is a collection of images showing the moon.
>
> [Image] Apollo 17 - Whole Moon View (GIF, 222K; GIF, 3M)
> This full disc of the Moon was photographed by the Apollo 17 crew
> during their trans-Earth coast homeward following a successful lunar
> landing mission in December 1972. Mare seen on this photo include
> Serentatis, Tranquillitatis, Nectaris, Foecunditatis and Crisium.
> (Courtesy NASA)
>
> [Image] Moon - False Color Mosaic (GIF, 396K; JPEG, 86K; TIFF, 2M;
> caption)
> This false-color photograph of the Moon was taken by the Galileo
> spacecraft on December 8, 1992. The false-color processing used to
> create this lunar image is helpful for interpreting the surface soil
> composition. Areas appearing red generally correspond to the lunar
> highlands, while blue to orange shades indicate the ancient volcanic
> lava flow of a mare, or lunar sea. Bluer mare areas contain more
> titanium than do the orange regions. Mare Tranquillitatis, seen as a
> deep blue patch on the right, is richer in titanium than Mare
> Serenitatis, a slightly smaller circular area immediately adjacent to
> the upper left of Mare Tranquillitatis. Blue and orange areas covering
> much of the left side of the Moon in this view represent many separate
> lava flows in Oceanus Procellarum. The small purple areas found near
> the center are pyroclastic deposits formed by explosive volcanic
> eruptions. The fresh crater Tycho, with a diameter of 85 kilometers
> (53 miles), is prominent at the bottom of the photograph.
>
> [Image] Far Side of the Moon (GIF, 342K; GIF, 3M)
> This image was taken by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. It shows a
> portion of the Moon's heavily cratered far side. The large crater is
> approximately 80 km ( 50 miles ) in diameter. The rugged terrain seen
> here is typical of the farside of the Moon. (Courtesy NASA)
>
> [Image] Lunar South Pole (GIF, 764K; TIF, 4M; caption)
> This mosaic is composed of 1,500 Clementine images of the south polar
> region of the Moon. The top half of the mosaic faces Earth. Clementine
> has revealed what appears to be a major depression near the lunar
> south pole (center), evident from the presence of extensive shadows
> around the pole. This depression probably is an ancient basin formed
> by the impact of an asteroid or comet. A significant portion of the
> dark area near the pole may be in permanent shadow, and sufficiently
> cold to trap water of cometary origin in the form of ice.
>
> The impact basin Schrodinger (near the 4 o'clock position) is a
> two-ring basin, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) in diameter which is
> recognized to be the second youngest impact basin on the Moon. The
> center of Schrodinger is flooded by lavas. A volcanic vent seen in the
> floor of Schrodinger is one of the largest single explosive volcanoes
> on the Moon. (Courtesy Naval Research Laboratory.)
>
> [Image] Apollo 11 (GIF, 117K)
> The Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM) ascent stage, with Astronauts Neil A.
> Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. aboard, is photographed from the
> Command and Service Module (CSM) during rendezvous in lunar orbit. The
> LM was making its docking approach to the CSM. Astronaut Michael
> Collins remained with the CSM in lunar orbit while the other two
> crewmen explored the lunar surface. The large, dark-colored area in
> the background is Smyth's Sea, centered at 85 degrees east longitude
> and 2 degrees south latitude on the lunar surface (nearside). This
> view looks west. The Earth rises above the lunar horizon. (Courtesy
> NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 11 - Flag (GIF, 223K; TIF, 2M)
> Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, poses for a
> photograph beside the deployed United States flag during Apollo 11
> extravehicular activity on the lunar surface. The Lunar Module Eagle
> is on the left. The footprints of the astronauts are clearly visible
> in the soil of the Moon. This picture was taken by Astronaut Neil A.
> Armstrong, commander, with a 70mm lunar surface camera. (Courtesy
> NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 11 - Earth from the Moon (GIF, 277K; TIF, 2M)
> This view of the Earth rising over the Moon's horizon was taken from
> the Apollo 11 spacecraft. The lunar terrain pictured is in the area of
> Smyth's Sea on the nearside. (Courtesy NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 11 - Footprint on the Moon (GIF, 414K; GIF, 1M)
> A close-up view of an astronaut's footprint in the lunar soil,
> photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11
> extravehicular activity (EVA) on the Moon.
>
> [Image] Apollo 15 - Lunar Roving Vehicle (GIF, 272K; TIF, 8M)
> This is a view of the Lunar Roving Vehicle photographed alone against
> the desolate lunar background during an Apollo 15 lunar surface
> extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site.
> This view is looking north. The west edge of Mount Hadley is at the
> upper right edge of the picture. Mount Hadley rises approximately
> 4,500 meters (14,800 feet) above the plain. The most distant lunar
> feature visible is approximately 25 kilometers (16 miles) away.
> (Courtesy NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 17 - Taurus-Littrow Landing Site (GIF, 291K; TIF, 2M)
> This is the landing site of the last Apollo mission (Apollo 17). It
> was in the valley among the Taurus-Littrow hills on the southeastern
> rim of Mare Serenitatis. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison H.
> Schmitt explored the valley with the aid of an electrically powered
> car. This image shows Schmitt inspecting a huge boulder that has
> rolled down the side of an adjacent hill. (Courtesy NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 17 - Large Lunar Boulder (GIF, 191K; TIF, 2M)
> Earth in the far distant background is seen above a large lunar
> boulder on the Moon. This photo was taken with a handheld Hasselblad
> camera by the last two Moon walkers in the Apollo Program. (Courtesy
> NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 17 - Lunar Scape (GIF, 310K; TIF, 2M)
> This image is an excellent view of the desolate lunar space at Station
> 4 showing scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot,
> working at the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the second Apollo 17
> extravehicular activity at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This is
> the area where Schmitt first spotted the orange soil which is visible
> on either side of the Lunar Roving Vehicle in this picture. Shorty
> Crater is to the right, and the peak in the center background is
> Family Mountain. A portion of South Massif is on the horizon at the
> left edge. (Courtesy NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 17 - Orange Soil (GIF, 199K; TIF, 3M)
> These orange glass spheres and fragments are the finest particles ever
> brought back from the Moon. The particles range in size from 20 to 45
> microns. The orange soil was brought back from the Taurus-Littrow
> landing site by the apollo 17 crewmen. Scientist-Astronaut Harrison J.
> Schmitt discovered the orange soil at Shorty Crater. The orange
> particles, which are intermixed with black and black-speckled grains,
> are about the same size as the particles that compose silt on Earth.
> Chemical analysis of the orange soil material has show the sample to
> be similar to some of the samples brought back from the Apollo 11 (Sea
> of Tranquility) site several hundred miles to the southwest. Like
> those samples, it is rich in titanium (8%) and iron oxide (22%). But
> unlike the Apollo 11 samples, the orange soil is unexplainably rich in
> zinc. The orange soil is probably of volcanic origin and not the
> product of meteorite impact. (Courtesy NASA)
>
> [Image] Apollo 17 - Oblique view of Copernicus (GIF, 226K; GIF, 777K)
> This is an oblique view of the large crater Copernicus on the lunar
> nearside, as phtographed from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit.
> (Courtesy NASA)
>
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> [HOME] Earth
>
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> Copyright =A9 1994, 1995, 1996 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights
> reserved.
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TODD E VAN HOOSEAR <vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu> (via Netscape) Visit my home page at http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--------------384744326CB--