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The Moon is the Earth's satellite. The earth has another natural satellite besides the moon. Why is the moon called a satellite?

Recently, at a meeting with journalists, the former head of NASA's lunar laboratory photography service, Ken Johnston, made a sensational statement. He claims that the US military has photographs of the Moon that show “man-made ruins.” Bearing in mind the discussion during which the American landing on the Moon was questioned, it is hardly worth trusting such statements. But be that as it may, a huge number of secrets are associated with the Earth’s satellite, and this is recognized by almost all astronomers

Friendship of giants

But what is so unusual, strange about the Moon?

One of the mysteries of the satellite is its origin. Comparative planetology says that the Earth is “not supposed to” have such a large satellite. The diameter of the Moon is almost 4000 km, and that of the Earth is just over 12 thousand km.

Mercury, Venus, and Mars do not have such satellites. Small, tens of kilometers across, satellites of Mars are unlikely to be related to the process of planet formation.

There is a special conversation about Pluto. The presence of large moons is the privilege of giant planets. Jupiter and Saturn have only five large satellites comparable to the Moon. And then suddenly the Earth has such a giant?!

Spawn of the Sun

Today in the scientific world three theories of the origin of the Moon are conventionally accepted.

One of them suggests that the Moon is a fragment of the Earth. But the huge differences in the nature of these two bodies make this theory practically untenable: the Earth and the Moon do not have a similar structure and are very different in density.

Another theory is that the Moon was "spawned" by the Sun as a planet in its own right, along with other terrestrial planets, and formed from the same cloud of cosmic gas. This assumption is at least supported by the fact that the Moon is very similar to another small terrestrial planet - Mercury. But how the Moon got into the Earth’s orbit (without colliding with the Earth!), and even with such a precisely defined distance from it, remains a mystery!

Non-standard orbit

The third theory suggests that, while wandering through space, the Moon fell into the earth's gravity, which caught it and turned it into its “captive”. However, the big drawback of this explanation is that the Moon's orbit is practically circular and cyclical. In cases where a planet “catches” a satellite, its orbit is quite distant from the center or at least represents an ellipsoid.

Walled civilization?

However, there are scientists who adhere to a completely extravagant theory. The point is that the Moon is an artificial satellite of the Earth - a kind of ancient cosmic analogue of Noah's Ark, deliberately launched into low-Earth orbit by aliens from other worlds.

If this is so, then the Moon should be hollow inside, with a thick and durable outer crust-shell, under which there may be the remains of a civilization “immured” in its depths for many centuries.

The “Alpine Valley” (Vallis Alpes) has also been known for a long time. It was like a giant knife cutting across the massif of the Lunar Alps. The length of this “cut” is 130 km, and the maximum width does not reach ten kilometers.

The theory of "artificial casting"

According to supporters of the “artificial casting” theory, their version is supported by some lunar oddities. For example, lunar craters.

It is known that the Moon has no atmosphere and its entire surface is literally covered with craters of various sizes left by meteorites crashing into it.

In the Sea of Clouds there is an interesting formation - the “Straight Wall”, a low, very gentle mountain ridge. The “wall” is a giant gentle step more than 100 km long and about 300 m high.

What remains unexplained is the shallow depth to which the aforementioned bodies were able to penetrate. Everything looks as if a layer of extremely durable material prevented meteorites from penetrating into the center of the satellite. Even craters with a diameter of 150 km do not exceed four kilometers in depth. This feature is inexplicable. In theory, there should be craters at least 50 kilometers deep on the Moon, but there are none.

This could only happen if the meteorites encountered an obstacle in the form of a “very hard shell” and all the energy of the explosion from the collision with the Moon, unable to penetrate deep into it, scattered the meteorological protective layer over the surface, forming lunar ring mountains - “circuses” .

Another argument in favor of the “artificial casting” theory is that under its hard shell the Moon has a very low density - 60% of the density of the Earth (3.34 g/cm3).

Artifacts

So the more we learn about the Moon, the more mysteries it presents us with. The US lunar programs - Rangers, Surveyors, Orbiters, Apollos - took over 150 thousand photographs in which you can see many strange objects.

Currently, 44 areas of the Moon are known where various artifacts have been found. They are being studied by specialists from the Space Information Bank Center, the Space Flight Center. Goddard, as well as the Planetary Institute in Houston.

NASA (National Space Agency) published a catalog of lunar anomalies. The catalog covers observations over four centuries! It provides 579 examples that have not yet been explained: moving luminous objects, geometric figures, disappearing craters, colored trenches, giant domes changing their color, and finally, a large luminous object observed on November 26, 1956, called the “Maltese Cross” , etc.

In the area of the Tycho crater, mysterious terrace-like rock excavations were discovered.

Quick Spots

Moving objects are often observed in the Seas of Crisis and Tranquility. Thus, in the area of the latter in 1964, light or dark spots were seen at least four times, moving tens and even hundreds of kilometers in a few hours.

On September 11, 1967, for 8-9 seconds, Canadian scientists recorded a dark rectangular spot with purple edges here, which was clearly visible until it entered the night region. And 13 minutes later, along the path of the spot, near the Sabine crater, a flash of yellow light appeared. (Circular of the Lunar Section of the British Astronomical Society, 1967, vol. 2, 12.)

And, apparently, it was no coincidence that a year and a half later, Apollo 11 landed on the moon in this zone.

Shadow on the surface

One of the most interesting observations of recent times belongs to a Japanese amateur astronomer. Our television has repeatedly played a video recording of a shadow moving quickly across the surface of the Moon, which he made using a telescope. If this is not a hoax, then the size of the shadow (about 20 km in diameter) and the enormous speed of its movement (in two seconds the shadow traveled about 400 km) allow us to speak about the high technical level of the object.

"Public" observers

All these facts forced NASA to deliberately and seriously address anomalous phenomena on the Earth's satellite. In 1972, a special program was created, which involved dozens of experienced “public” observers armed with telescopes. NASA has assigned each of them four lunar regions where lunar phenomena have been repeatedly observed in the past. However, to date, NASA has closed information about their work.

Many craters, especially on the far side of the Moon, have a pronounced polygonal shape, which has not yet been explained. Thus, during the Apollo 15 flight, an anomalous area was photographed on the Moon. Its main object is the Southern Massif - a gigantic artifact with a base in the shape of a regular hexagon.

Space Race

At a meeting with journalists, Ken Johnston pointed out that both the United States and Russia are speeding up their lunar programs.

In December 2006, NASA announced plans to build an international base camp at one of the lunar poles, which is planned to be fully staffed by 2024. Russian rocket manufacturer Energia announced an even more ambitious program last summer - plans to build a permanent base on the Moon by 2015.

– The United States is deliberately speeding up space shuttle launches. Everything is being done to end this program ahead of schedule by 2010, and then move on to the new Constellation spacecraft, which will allow NASA to land on the Moon before the Russians do. Why such international attention to the lunar program of the 21st century? Maybe the Americans found “something” very important on the Moon that NASA forgot to tell us about? - Johnston sums up.

The grooves are strange formations on the surface of the Moon. Currently, there are three types of grooves: sinuous grooves, consisting of several curved curves, arcuate grooves, which form smooth arcs, and straight grooves. Long furrows reach a length of several hundred kilometers. It is believed that the sinuous grooves are the remains of ancient lava flows, but the origin of the arcuate and linear grooves is still a matter of research.

To the question Why is the Moon a satellite of the Earth and not an independent planet? given by the author Prosecute the best answer is The force of attraction of the Sun on the Moon is due to the fact that the Moon, together with the Earth, rotates around the Sun.
At the moment, she is also tied to the Earth. And how it started... that's another question.

Answer from 22 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Why is the Moon a satellite of the Earth, and not an independent planet?

Answer from Nik Vas[guru]
Planets revolve around stars and have a dependent trajectory.
The satellites are rotating...

Answer from Eurovision[guru]
The postscript is unclear, the question is clear.
The gravity of the Earth is what holds the Moon!
The earth is close, so its gravity acts stronger!
So for all planets with satellites

Answer from MiF[guru]
you could say the same about people. or to any other parts of the earth. but we are attracted to the sun much weaker than to the earth. and the sun does not tear the earth apart.
because in relation to the sun all parts of the earth move approximately the same. and the sun creates virtually no distortion. for the distances between the parts of the earth are disproportionately small compared to the distance to the sun. Moreover, the relationship is quadratic.

Answer from Echo voice[guru]
I DO NOT agree about the fact that “the Sun attracts the Moon 2 times stronger than the Earth.”
Satellites of a planet can be its satellites only within the sphere of influence of this planet. The Moon is precisely within the sphere of influence of the Earth, which means that at the distance from the Earth where the Moon is located, the Earth’s gravity prevails over the Sun’s gravity. Otherwise, the Moon, as a satellite, would be lost.
During the formation of the planets of the Solar System from a gas-dust cloud, each planet was formed in its own zone. As a result, all planets have their own stable orbits and cannot change them on their own. Between neighboring large planets there is no “free space” for a stable orbit of another large planet (the exception is the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter). Therefore, the Moon can only be what it is - a satellite of the Earth.

Answer from IKILL[newbie]
Well, probably because it rotates around a specific axis and this axis is the earth, this determines its specific belonging to the earth, but in 2x probably the dimensions, as with the rest of the satellites of other planets.

Answer from Valery collective farmer[guru]
in fact, our planet could not have acquired such a satellite for any price, I mean in terms of mass... it could not have been a body coming from the outer space like from an aorta cloud... the rate of convergence would not allow it to hang in this orbit, because we are quite close to the sun... under certain conditions it could be part of the earth, well, like it was torn into unequal parts... no one knows yet... if the moon, however, was not formed as a result of a catastrophe or during the birth of the earth, then this is an artificial body... but no one knows anything either for or against...

Lesson summary using information technology (ICT)

Item: the world.

UMK: N.Ya. Dmitrieva, A.N. Kazakov, developmental training “L.V. Zankov System”

Class: 2

Lesson type: familiarization with new material.

Lesson topic: The Moon is the Earth's satellite.

Duration: 40 min.

Annotation: II quarter, studied module “Space”, lesson 5.

Methods, techniques, forms:

– verbal (conversation), playful;
– visual (multimedia presentation;);
– practical;
– method of self-control;
– problematic, organization of search and research work;

A combination of frontal, individual, group and pair work;

The lesson on the surrounding world was developed in accordance with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard of NEO.

Target: expand students' knowledge about the Moon.

Tasks:

Educational objectives:

introduce the Earth's satellite - the Moon, with its movement around the Earth, size and distance from the Earth;

explain why the visible shape of the Moon changes throughout the month.

Developmental tasks:

develop spatial imagination, cognitive interest, horizons, creative abilities;

develop the ability to work with a globe and educational text;

develop self-control and control skills, skills of practical work in groups;

develop children’s cognitive activity, the ability to observe, compare, generalize and draw conclusions.

Educational tasks:

contribute to the formation of the student’s personality, support the needs and motives to learn “new things”;

instill respect for each other;

to form an emotionally positive attitude towards the subject, showing the connection of the subjects being studied with life.

Value guidelines: inquisitive, actively and interestedly exploring the world.

Planned results:

Personal UUD:

the formation of a holistic, socially oriented view of the world in its limited unity;

to form motivation for learning and purposeful cognitive activity;

perceive classmates as members of your team (group);

contribute to the work to achieve common results;

be tolerant of other people’s and own mistakes, other opinions and be willing to discuss them.

Metasubject UUD.

Regulatory UUD:

together with the teacher, discover and formulate an educational problem;

after preliminary discussion, independently formulate the topic of the lesson and the purpose of the lesson;

predict upcoming work: determining the purpose of educational activities, choosing a topic, drawing up a plan;

evaluate learning activities in accordance with the task;

compare your actions with the goal, learn to evaluate the results of educational activities;

perform self-tests against the standard and adjust your activities.

Cognitive UUD:

navigate your knowledge system;

extract and process information to discover new knowledge;

extract information presented in different forms (test, text, illustration);

process the information received: draw conclusions as a result of the joint work of the entire class, group, pair.

Communicative UUD:

convey your position to others: express your point of view and try to substantiate it by giving arguments;

express your thoughts in speech and convey your position to others;

listen to others, try to accept a different point of view, be willing to change your point of view;

jointly agree on the rules of communication and behavior in the group and follow them;

consciously choose a criterion for qualitative assessment of the group’s work.

Subject UUD:

be able to explain the meaning of “The Moon is a satellite of the Earth”;

work with ready-made models (globe);

expand knowledge about the Moon.

Training technologies: developmental education technology, activity-based approach technology, problem-based learning technology, health-saving technology, technology for assessing educational achievements.

Equipment: computer, multimedia presentation of the lesson, handouts for group work: assessment signal cards, masks for the skit (moon phases), vocabulary word “crater”.

During the classes

I .Motivation for learning activities(children in chorus) (slide 1)

The bell rang

The lesson begins.

To become nature's friend

Find out all her secrets,

Solve all the riddles

We learn to observe.

Let's develop mindfulness together,

And our curiosity will help us find out everything.

Hello guys, look at each other, smile and sit down. Now we have a lesson about the world around us.

I I . Updating knowledge

Before moving on to studying a new topic, we will take a test, thereby checking how well you have mastered the topic of the last lesson.(slide 2 - 7)

Test (System for control and monitoring of knowledge quality) PRoClass

The planets of the solar system are being studied...

A) geographers;

B) chemists;

B) astronomers;

D) physicists.

Planets revolve around the Sun. Their...

A) 7;

B) 9;

AT 11.

Pluto is...

A) the largest planet in the solar system;

B) the smallest planet in the solar system;

C) the planet closest to the Sun in the Solar System.

The planets are located relative to the Sun as follows:

A) Venus, Earth, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter;

B) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus;

C) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

What is Earth?

A) star;

B) planet;

B) a flaming ball.

III . Formulating a lesson topic, setting a goal

I have prepared a small crossword puzzle for you. Let's guess it and see what keyword we come up with. (slide 8)

The star around which the Earth revolves?

What is the most distant planet from the Sun?

A celestial body orbiting the Sun?

A celestial body that itself glows?

So, what was the keyword? (Moon)

So what are we going to talk about today? (about the Moon)

Have you seen the moon?

What do you know about her?

Do you know everything about her?

Would you like to know more? (Yes)

What do you think is the topic of our lesson? ("The Moon is the Earth's satellite") (slide 9)

Let's see what we should learn about her during this lesson? (slide 10)

1. The Moon is a satellite of the Earth.

Surface of the Moon.

Lunar phases.

Human exploration of the Moon.

To find out all this, we will go on an extraordinary journey to the Moon. You will be real researchers, astronomers. You will draw conclusions based on scientific facts.

So, are you ready to go on an extraordinary journey?

Fasten seat belts! Attention! Takeoff!

I V. Discovery of new knowledge.

Here you and I are in place. Let's start looking for answers to our questions?

1. The Moon is a satellite of the Earth. (slide 11)

Guys, in front of you is our planet Earth and the Moon. What can you say about them?

What is the size of the Moon compared to the size of the Earth?

The Moon turns out to be 4 times smaller than the Earth.

What is the distance from the Earth to the Moon?

The distance to the moon is approximately 400 thousand km. This is the closest cosmic body to Earth.

It turns out that the Earth and the Moon, they are like 2 brothers, are always inseparable. The Moon moves around the Earth, and together with the Earth around the Sun. That's why the Moon is called the Earth's satellite.

To better imagine all this, let’s briefly turn ourselves into the Sun, planet Earth and the Moon. We will try to show the movement of the Earth around the Sun, and the Moon around the Earth. (Children demonstrate how the Sun, Earth and Moon move. Student - The Sun rotates around itself. Student - Earth - around itself and very slowly around the Sun. Student - The Moon rotates around itself and around the Earth.)

Here we have clearly seen the movement of the Earth's satellite, the Moon.

Well done, sit down.

Now open the textbooks p. 65 and read the first paragraph. Let's find out what the authors of the textbook offer us? (slide 12)

So, why is the Moon called the Earth's satellite? (children's answers)

2. Surface of the Moon.(slide 13)

What do you see in the image?

Look at the surface of the Moon and tell me what it is like?

Look at the photo of the Moon and listen to the poem by Gianni Rodari, which your classmate will tell us... (one student says). Think about what was called the lunar seas. (Most likely, these are mountains and depressions on the surface of the Moon.)

By the lunar sea

Special secret -

It doesn't look like the sea.

There is not a drop of water in this sea,

And there are no fish either.

In the waves of it

Impossible to dive

You can't splash around in it,

You can't drown.

Swim in that sea

Convenient only for those

Who swim

He still can’t do it at all!

What does it say about the surface of the Moon? (the surface of the Moon is rocky and very uneven. Mountains alternate with plains covered with dust. There are many depressions on the Moon that were formed from meteorite impacts on its surface).

Guys, these depressions are called craters, or in another way they are called “lunar seas”.

Let's repeat this word in chorus - crater (in unison).

People even gave names to these seas: Sea of Tranquility, Sea of Rains, Ocean of Storms.

So, what are “lunar seas”? (craters formed due to the fall of meteorites - stones fallen from space).

Fizminutka

Don't yawn around, there will be a right turn.

You are an astronaut today! One - clap, two - clap,

Let's start training, turn around one more time!

To become strong and agile. One two three four,

Let's put our arms to the sides, shoulders higher, arms wider.

Let's get the left one with the right one, lower our hands down

And then vice versa - And sit down at your desk again!

3. Moon phases

- Now, guys, watch the fairy tale that your classmates and I have prepared for you. It's called "Why doesn't the month have a dress?" And think about why they called her that? (dramatization of a fairy tale by two students)Annex 1

What secret does this tale reveal? (slide 14)

Why doesn't the month have a dress? (The moon is different)

Do you know what determines the different appearance of the Moon?

Work in pairs (using document and cameras)

- Let's remember the rules of working in pairs and groups. Appendix 2

- Compare your sketches of the Moon with those in the textbook.

Why do we see the Moon so different from Earth? (Messages from children)

The different appearance of the Moon depends on how it is illuminated by the Sun, which is invisible to us at night. The appearance of the Moon changes throughout the month because it occupies different positions relative to the Sun and Earth. Even in ancient times, people noticed that the Moon changes its shape all the time. Sometimes it looks like a round plate, sometimes like a sickle, which was called the month. There is an explanation for all this. The sun is a flaming ball. It emits light. And the Moon does not emit light; it is like a mirror, reflecting the light of the Sun. The sun's rays illuminate it from only one side. Only this illuminated side of the Moon is visible from Earth. As the Moon moves around the Earth, the Sun illuminates it differently. Depending on what part of the Moon is illuminated, we see it in the sky – either in its entirety, then in half, or as a narrow crescent. If you observe the Moon, you will notice that the crescent of the “young”, “growing” Moon is different from the “aging” Moon. To do this, you need to connect the tips of the horns with a straight line segment and extend this line down a little. We will get the letter “P”, i.e. the first letter of the word "growing". So we drew a young Moon. And the “aging” sickle itself speaks about this, because it looks like the letter “C” - the first letter of the word “aging”.

Human exploration of the Moon.(slide 15)

Guys, do you think people dreamed of visiting the Moon? (Messages from children)

People have long dreamed of visiting the Moon. The real assault on the Moon begins in 1959. In 1966, the Luna 9 station landed on the moon and transmitted a television image of the lunar landscape. In 1970, the Luna-16 station drilled and delivered lunar soil to Earth. Other countries also studied the Moon.

And now you will learn about who managed to visit the Moon. (Messages from children)

In 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walked on the moon. They even managed to ride on a lunar rover. In 1970, the first domestic self-propelled vehicle “Lunokhod - 1” began its movement on the surface of the Moon. Many craters on the Moon are caused by falling meteorites, because... The Moon does not have an atmosphere, unlike the Earth. Due to the lack of atmosphere on the surface of the Moon, sharp temperature fluctuations occur. On a sunlit surface it rises to +130 degrees, and at night it drops to -160 degrees.

- What were the names of the American astronauts who walked on the moon? ( Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin)

What did astronomers manage to find out as a result of studying the Moon? (Scientists have proven that there is no air, water, and therefore no animals and plants on the Moon.)

Have we received answers to previously unknown questions?

Now close your eyes and imagine that you and I are flying back to Earth. Happy landing to you guys!

V. Consolidation of the studied material(slide 16)

So you and I have learned a lot about the Earth’s satellite, the Moon. Now let’s check how well you remember everything.

Group work

Place statements on the tables using the words given to you. But keep in mind that not all words will be useful to you.

I group

II group

(

III group

Read the statements you received.

One of the groups came across the surname Gagarin. Who can tell me who this is? (the first person to fly into space).

Give his full name. (Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin)

Or maybe someone can tell me the year when Yuri Gagarin made his flight? ( April 12, 1961)

Well done boys!

VI. Reflection on learning activities in the classroom.

- The bell will ring soon

Let's sum it up quickly.

What new did you learn in the lesson? (about the fact that the Moon is a satellite of the Earth, about the surface of the Moon, about the phases, about people who conquered the moon)

Self-assessment of work

I suggest that you evaluate your work in class: (on everyone’s table there are stars of three colors)

Red star- the lesson was easy and interesting.

Yellow star- experienced difficulties.

Brown star- the lesson was boring, difficult, I didn’t understand anything.

Home rear Prepare a message about the Moon on behalf of an astronaut or astronomer scientist.

Bibliography:

Dmitrieva N.Ya., Kazakov A.N. The world around us: Textbook for grade 2: In 2 hours – 8th edition. – Samara: Publishing House “Educational Literature”: Publishing House “Fedorov”, 2012.

Dmitrieva N.Ya., Kazakov A.N. Workbook on the surrounding world for grade 2 - Samara: Publishing House "Educational Literature": Publishing House "Fedorov", 2013.

Gulueva T.S. The world around us, grade 2. Methodological recommendations for the textbook Dmitrieva N.Ya., Kazakov A.N. The world around us, grade 2. – Volgograd: Teacher, 2009. – 281 p.

Annex 1

Fairy tale “Why the month doesn’t have a dress”

Crescent dropped in to see Tailor,

Not to the heavenly, but to the earthly.

-Sew me, master, an elegant dress,

I will walk across the sky on holiday!

The Tailor took the measurements from the Crescent.

Invites him to a fitting.

But in just a few days

The month became twice as full.

Both his shoulders and chest are tight

Thus the Heavenly Moon has recovered!

Tailor almost cries with frustration:

-What kind of demon played a trick on me!

Your Grace has gained a little weight

Or the matter has shrunk from washing, -

To be honest, I don't understand...

OK! I'll take a new fitting.

Day after day goes by,

Tailor doesn't waste a minute.

Well, the Moon is a night reveler

In the meantime it became the full moon.

He tries on a tight dress

And, sighing, mutters curses:

-Sinner, swindler, villain!

I would be ashamed of good people.

For the last three days and three nights

The dress has become tighter and shorter!

Tailor did not answer anything,

Why can Tailor argue with Luna?

He took the customer’s measurements again:

The dress will be ready for the holiday.

The seams of the dress were ripped apart by the tailor,

The chest was expanded and the hem was added.

There's a little work left to do,

And the Moon is knocking on the window.

Yes, not a Month, but a thin Sickle

At this time he was doing damage,

Not the Moon, but just half:

Only horns and a round back.

Tailor shook all over with anger:

-No, stop joking with me!

I tried to please you foolishly.

Every day, you changed your figure.

Then you became round like a pancake.

That's as thin as this arshin.

Sewing a dress for you is a waste of time,

Better stay without a dress!

Appendix 2

Rules for working in pairs

Both should work.

One speaks, the other listens.

If you don't understand, ask again.

Group rules

There must be a person in charge in the group.

If you don't understand, ask again.

One speaks, others listen.

Express your disagreement politely.

Everyone must work for the common result.

Appendix 3

Cards with statements for group work.

I group

Mars, Sun, Moon, artificial, natural, satellite of the Earth, Pluto.

(“The Moon is the natural satellite of the Earth”)

II group

The first, people, animals, Armstrong, Gagarin, who conquered, Aldrin, the Moon. ( The first people to conquer the moon - Armstrong and Aldrin")

III group

Craters formed by comets, from impacts, depressions, these are meteorites. (Craters are depressions formed by meteorite impacts.)

Appendix 4

Creative report with photographic materials

Our planet, unlike many others, has only one natural satellite that can be observed in the sky at night - this, of course, is the Moon. If you do not take into account the Sun, then this particular object is the brightest that can be observed from Earth.

Among the other satellites of the planets, the satellite of planet Earth ranks fifth in size. It has no atmosphere, no lakes and rivers. Day and night replace each other here every two weeks, and you can observe a temperature difference of three hundred degrees. And it is always turned to us with only one side, leaving its dark reverse side in mysteries. This pale blue object in the night sky is the Moon.

The lunar surface is covered with a layer of regolith (black sandy dust), which in different areas reaches a thickness of from several meters to several dozen. Lunar sand regolith arises from the constant fall of meteorites and crushing in a state of vacuum, unprotected by cosmic rays.

The surface of the Moon is uneven with many craters of varying sizes. On the Moon there are both plains and entire mountains, lined up in a chain, the height of the mountains is up to 6 kilometers. there is an assumption that more than 900 million years ago there was volcanic activity on the Moon, this is evidenced by the found particles of soil, the formation of which could be as a result of eruptions.

The surface on the Moon itself is very dark, despite the fact that on a moonlit night we can clearly see the Moon in the night sky. The lunar surface reflects just over seven percent of the sun's rays. Even from the Earth you can observe spots on its surface, which, according to an ancient erroneous judgment, retained the name “sea”.

Moon and planet Earth

The Moon always faces planet Earth with one side. On this side visible from the Earth, most of it is occupied by flat spaces called seas. The seas on the Moon occupy about sixteen percent of the total area and are giant craters that appeared after collisions with other cosmic bodies. The other side of the Moon, hidden from Earth, is almost completely dotted with mountain ranges and craters from small to huge sizes.

The influence of the cosmic object closest to us, the Moon, also extends to the Earth. Thus, a typical example is the ebb and flow of the seas, which arise due to the gravitational attraction of the satellite.

Origin of the Moon

According to various studies, there are many differences between the Moon and Earth, primarily in chemical composition: the Moon has virtually no water, relatively low levels of volatile elements, low density compared to Earth, and a small core of iron and nickel.

Nevertheless, radiometric analysis, which determines the age of celestial objects if they contain a radioactive isotope, showed that the age of the Moon is the same as that of the Earth - 4.5 billion years. The ratio of stable oxygen isotopes of the two celestial objects coincides, despite the fact that for all studied meteorites such ratios have strong differences. This suggests that both the Moon and the Earth in the distant past were formed from the same substance, located at the same distance from the Sun in a pre-planetary cloud.

Based on the general age, the combination of similar properties with a strong difference between two close objects of the solar system, 3 hypotheses for the origin of the Moon are put forward:

1. Formation of both the Earth and the Moon from one pre-planetary cloud

2. Capture of the already formed object Moon by the Earth’s gravity

3. The formation of the Moon as a result of a collision with the Earth of a large space object comparable in size to the planet Mars.

The Earth's pale blue satellite, the Moon, has been studied since ancient times. For example, among the Greeks the thoughts of Archimedes on this subject are especially famous. Galileo described the Moon in detail with its characteristics and possible properties. He saw plains on the surface of the Moon that looked like “seas,” mountains and craters. And in 1651, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Riccioli created a map of the Moon, where he described in detail the lunar landscape of the surface visible from the Earth and introduced designations for many parts of the lunar relief.

In the 20th century, interest in the Moon increased with the help of new technological capabilities for exploring the Earth's satellite. So on February 3, 1966, the Soviet spacecraft Luna-9 made its first soft landing on the surface of the Moon. The next spacecraft, Luna-10, became the first artificial satellite of the Moon, and quite a short time later, on July 21, 1969, a man visited the Moon for the first time. There came a series of many discoveries in the field of selenography and selenology, which were made by Soviet scientists and their American colleagues from NASA. Then, by the end of the 20th century, interest in the Moon gradually subsided.

(Photograph of the far side of the Moon, landing of the Chang'e-4 spacecraft)

On January 3, 2019, the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e-4 successfully landed on the surface of the far side of the moon, this side is constantly facing away from the light emitted by the Earth and is invisible from the surface of the planet. For the first time, the far side of the lunar surface was photographed by the Soviet Luna-3 station on October 27, 1959, and more than half a century later, at the beginning of 2019, the Chinese Chang'e-4 spacecraft landed on the surface far from the Earth.

Colonization on the Moon
Many writers and science fiction writers, along with the planet Mars, consider the Moon as an object for future human colonization. Despite the fact that this is more like a fiction, the American agency NASA seriously thought about this issue, setting the task of developing the “Constellation” program to resettle people on the lunar surface with the construction of a real space base on the Moon and the development of “inter-Earth-lunar” space flights. However, this program was suspended by the decision of US President Barack Obama due to high funding.

Robot Avatars on the Moon
However, in 2011, NASA again proposed a new program, this time called “Avatars,” which required the development and production of robotic avatars on Earth, which would then be delivered to the Earth’s satellite the Moon in order to further simulate living in human lunar conditions with telepresence effect. That is, a person will control the robot avatar from Earth, fully dressed in a suit that will simulate his presence on the Moon as a robot avatar located in real conditions on the lunar surface.

Big Moon Illusion
When the Moon is low above the Earth's horizon, the illusion arises that its size is larger than it actually is. At the same time, the real angular size of the Moon does not change; on the contrary, the closer it is to the horizon, the angular size decreases slightly. Unfortunately, this effect is difficult to explain and most likely refers to an error in visual perception.

Are there seasons on the Moon?
Both on Earth and on any other planet, the change of seasons occurs from the inclination of its axis of rotation, while the intensity of the change of seasons depends on the location of the plane of the planet’s orbit, be it a satellite around the Sun.

The Moon has an inclination of its rotation axis to the ecliptic plane of 88.5°, almost perpendicular. Therefore, on the Moon, on the one hand, there is almost eternal day, on the other hand, almost eternal night. This means that the temperature in each part of the lunar surface is also different and practically unchanged. At the same time, there can be no talk of a change of seasons on the Moon, much more due to the simple absence of an atmosphere.

Why do dogs bark at the moon?
There is no clear explanation for this phenomenon, but most likely, according to some scientists, it is the animal’s fear of an effect similar to a Solar Eclipse that causes fear in many animals. The vision of dogs and wolves is very weak and they perceive the Moon on a cloudless night as the Sun, confusing night with day. Weak moonlight and the moon itself are perceived by them as a dim Sun, and therefore, seeing the Moon, they behave in the same way as during a Solar eclipse, howl and bark.

Lunar capitalism
In Nikolai Nosov's fairy-tale novel "Dunno on the Moon," the Moon is a satellite, possibly of artificial origin, with an entire city inside - the stronghold of the modern capitalist system. What’s interesting is that the children’s story seems not so much fantastic as it is socio-political, which does not lose its relevance in modern times, interesting for both children and adults.

Relevance:

On April 12, our country remembers a grandiose event - human flight into space. In class we also discussed the topic of space and drew pictures. And the teacher asked us to prepare interesting reports about space. That’s why I chose this topic because I’m interested in it myself. And on the eve of this “Cosmonautics Day” holiday, this is relevant for us, I think it will interest you too.

My guesses:

At home, I took out the encyclopedia “Celestial Bodies” and began to read. Then I asked myself, maybe the Moon will fall on us? I replied that the Moon would probably fall if it approached the Earth. Or maybe something holds it with the Earth, so it doesn’t fall and doesn’t fly away anywhere.

The purpose and objectives of my work:

I decided to study in more detail the literature, how the Moon was formed, how it affects the Earth, what connects it with the Earth, and why the Moon does not fly into space and does not fall on the Earth. And here's what I found out.

Introduction

In astronomy, a satellite is a body that revolves around a large body and is held by the force of its gravity. The Moon is the Earth's satellite. The Earth is a satellite of the Sun. The Moon is a solid, cold, spherical celestial body that is 4 times smaller than the Earth.

The Moon is the celestial body closest to Earth. If it were possible, a tourist would walk to the moon for 40 years

The Earth-Moon system is unique in the solar system, since no planet has such a large satellite. The Moon is the only satellite of the Earth.

It is visible to the naked eye better than any planet through a telescope. Our satellite hides many mysteries.

The Moon is so far the only cosmic body visited by man. The Moon revolves around the Earth in the same way that the Earth revolves around the Sun (see Fig. 1).

The distance between the centers of the Moon and the Earth is approximately 384,467 km.

What does the Moon look like?

The Moon is not at all like the Earth. There is no air, no water, no life. The concentration of gases near the surface of the Moon is equivalent to a deep vacuum. Due to the lack of atmosphere, its gloomy, dusty expanses heat up to + 120 ° C during the day and freeze at night or just in the shade to - 160 ° C. The sky on the Moon is always black, even during the day. The huge disk of the Earth appears from the Moon to be more than 3.5 times larger than the Moon from the Earth, and hangs almost motionless in the sky (see Fig. 2).

The entire surface of the Moon is pitted with craters called craters. You can see them by looking closely at the Moon on a clear night. Some craters are so large that a huge city could fit inside them. There are two main options for the formation of craters - volcanic and meteorite.

The surface of the Moon can be divided into two types: very old mountainous terrain (lunar continent) and relatively smooth and younger lunar maria.

Lunar maria, which make up approximately 16% of the lunar surface, are huge craters created by collisions with celestial bodies that were later flooded with liquid lava. The lunar seas were given names: Sea of Crises, Sea of Abundance, Sea of Tranquility, Sea of Rains, Sea of Clouds, Sea of Moscow and others.

Compared to the Earth, the Moon is very small. The radius of the Moon is 1738 km, the volume of the Moon is 2% of the volume of the Earth, and the area is approximately 7.5%

How was the Moon formed?

The Moon and the Earth are almost the same age. Here is one version of the formation of the Moon.

1. Soon after the formation of the Earth, a huge celestial body crashed into it.

2. From the impact it shattered into many fragments.

3. Under the influence of gravity (attraction) of the Earth, the fragments began to revolve around it.

4. Over time, the fragments came together and formed the Moon.

Moon phases

The moon changes its appearance every day. At first the crescent is narrow, then the Moon gets fuller and after a few days becomes round. For a few more days, the full Moon gradually becomes smaller and smaller and again becomes like a sickle. The crescent moon is often called the month. If the sickle is turned convex to the left, like the letter “C,” then they say that the Moon is “aging.” 14 days and 19 hours after the full moon, the old month will disappear completely. The moon is not visible. This phase of the Moon is called “new moon”. Then gradually the Moon turns from a narrow crescent turned to the right into a full Moon again.

For the moon to “grow” again, the same period of time is required: 14 days and 19 hours. Changing the appearance of the Moon, i.e. The change in lunar phases, from full moon to full moon, occurs every four weeks, more precisely in 29 and a half days. This is a lunar month. It served as the basis for compiling the lunar calendar. During a full moon, the Moon faces the Earth with its illuminated side, and during a new moon, with its unlit side. Revolving around the Earth, the moon turns toward it either as a fully illuminated surface, or as a partially illuminated surface, or as a dark surface. That is why the appearance of the Moon continuously changes throughout the month.

Ebbs and flows

The gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon cause some interesting effects. The most famous of them is sea tides. The difference between high and low tide levels in open spaces of the ocean is small and amounts to 30–40 cm. However, near the coast, due to the run-up of a tidal wave on a hard bottom, a tidal wave increases in height in the same way as ordinary wind waves of the surf.

Taking into account the direction of rotation of the Moon around the Earth, it is possible to create a picture of a tidal wave following the ocean. The maximum tidal wave amplitude on Earth is observed in the Bay of Fundy in Canada and is 18 meters.

Lunar exploration

The moon has attracted the attention of people since ancient times. The invention of telescopes made it possible to distinguish finer details of the relief (surface shape) of the Moon. One of the first lunar maps was compiled by Giovanni Riccioli in 1651, he also gave names to large dark areas, calling them “seas,” which we still use today. In 1881, Jules Janssen compiled a detailed “Photographic Atlas of the Moon.”

Since the beginning of the space age, our knowledge of the Moon has increased significantly. The Moon was first visited by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 on September 13, 1959.

For the first time we managed to look at the far side of the Moon in 1959, when the Soviet station Luna 3 flew over it and photographed a part of its surface invisible from Earth.

The American manned mission to the Moon was called Apollo.

The first landing took place on July 20, 1969, and the first person to set foot on the surface of the Moon was the American Neil Armstrong. Six expeditions visited the Moon, but the last time was back in 1972, since expeditions are very expensive. Each time, two people landed on it and spent up to three days on the Moon. New expeditions are currently being prepared.

Why doesn't the Moon fall to Earth?

The moon would instantly fall to the Earth if it were stationary. But the Moon does not stand still, it revolves around the Earth.

When we throw an object, such as a tennis ball, gravity pulls it towards the center of the earth. Even a tennis ball thrown at high speed will still fall to the ground, but the pattern will change if the object is much further away and moving much faster.

My experience:

I asked my dad this question and he explained it to me with a simple example. We tied an ordinary eraser to a thread. Imagine that you are the Earth and the eraser is the moon, and start spinning it. The eraser on the thread will literally tear out of your hand, but the thread will not let it go. The moon is so far away and moving so fast that it never falls in the same direction. Even if it falls constantly, the moon will never fall to the ground. Instead, it moves around the earth in a constant path.

If we rotate the eraser very hard, the thread will break, and if we rotate it slowly, the eraser will fall.

We conclude: if the moon moved even faster, it would overcome the gravity of the earth and fly into space; if the moon moved slower, gravity would pull it to the earth. This precise balance of gravitational speed creates what we call an orbit, where the smaller celestial body constantly orbits the larger one.

The force that prevents the Moon from “escaping” during rotation is the force of gravity of the Earth. And the force that prevents the Moon from falling to the Earth is the centrifugal force that arises when the Moon rotates around the Earth.

Revolving around the Earth, the Moon moves in orbit at a speed of 1 km/sec, that is, slowly enough not to leave its orbit and “fly” into space, but also fast enough not to fall to the Earth.

By the way...

You will be surprised, but in fact the Moon... is moving away from the Earth at a speed of 3-4 cm per year! The movement of the Moon around the Earth can be imagined as a slowly unwinding spiral. The reason for this trajectory of the Moon is the Sun, which attracts the Moon 2 times stronger than the Earth.

Why then does the Moon not fall on the Sun? But because the Moon, together with the Earth, rotates, in turn, around the Sun, and the attractive effect of the Sun is completely spent on constantly transferring both of these bodies from a straight path to a curved orbit.

– The Moon itself does not glow, it only reflects the sunlight falling on it;

– The Moon rotates around its axis in 27 Earth days; during the same time it makes one revolution around the Earth;

– The moon, revolving around the earth, always faces us with one side, its reverse side remains invisible to us;

– The Moon, moving in its orbit, gradually moves away from the Earth by about 4 cm per year.

– The force of gravity on the Moon is 6 times less than on Earth.

Therefore, it is much easier for a rocket to take off from the Moon than from the Earth.

It is possible that soon spaceships will be sent on long interplanetary voyages not from the Earth, but from the Moon.

With the beginning of this century, China announced its readiness to explore the Moon, as well as to build several inhabited lunar bases there. After this statement, space organizations of leading countries, and in particular the USA (NASA) and ESA (European Space Agency), again launched their space programs.

What will come of this?

We'll see in 2020. It was this year that George Bush planned to land people on the moon. This date is ten years ahead of China, since their space program stated that the creation of habitable lunar bases and the landing of people on them will take place only in 2030.

The Moon is the most studied celestial body, but for humans it still conceals many mysteries: perhaps it is the base of extraterrestrial civilizations, perhaps life on Earth would be completely different if there were no Moon, perhaps in the future people will settle on the Moon ...

Conclusions:

So, we found out that the Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth, it revolves around our planet and, together with the Earth, moves in orbit around the Sun;

– the question of the origin of the Moon still remains controversial;

– changes in the shape of the Moon are called phases. They exist only for us

One of my assumptions turned out to be correct, the Moon is really held up by something, and this is the Earth’s gravitational force and centrifugal force.

And my other assumption, that the Moon will fall if it approaches the Earth, is not entirely correct. The Moon will fall to the Earth when the Moon stops rotating and is motionless, then the centrifugal force will not work.

Studying encyclopedias and the Internet, I learned a lot of new and interesting things. I will definitely share these discoveries with my classmates in the world around us lesson.

We managed to solve some of the mysteries of the Moon, but this did not make it any less interesting and attractive!