The Moon
The Moon is 4.52 billion years old, it was created 5 billion years after the Sun and 2 billion years after the Earth.
There are many theories to how the Moon was formed. The most accepted theory was that a large particle from Mars collided with Earth which sent other particles into orbit; making the Moon. Yet scientists are like you and your younger sibling, you will never agree on anything. Americans Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were the first people to land on the moon on the 20th of July 1969. |
It's Shape
Like the Sun and the Earth, the moon is a spherical shape with a lot of darker spots similar to the sunspots on the Sun. But these darker spots are actually impact craters. These happen when other comets and asteroids crash onto the moon and cause a massive hole that goes into the Moon's surface. The darker and larger spots that we can see at night, show just how hard the impact was. This would be like dropping a a very big basketball into a sandpit.
For all scientists know, there could be asteroids hitting the moon everyday, but the impact may not be strong enough to leave a mark on the Moon's surface.
For all scientists know, there could be asteroids hitting the moon everyday, but the impact may not be strong enough to leave a mark on the Moon's surface.
It's Size
The Moon is very small compared to both the Sun and the Earth it's diameter is only 3,476km. If we were to convert that down to match our previous scale; the Moon's diameter is only 2.5mm where as the Sun's was 1m! The Moon is the largest moon in the solar system, it is bigger then any other moon even Jupiter's moons.
If we were to use different pieces of fruit to understand the size of the Sun and Moon; then the Sun would be a rock melon and the Moon would be a grape.
If we were to use different pieces of fruit to understand the size of the Sun and Moon; then the Sun would be a rock melon and the Moon would be a grape.
At nightime, the Moon doesn't look that far away compared to the Sun during the daytime. This is because it is true, the Moon is a lot closer to Earth then the Sun is. The Moon is 384,400km away from the earth and if we go back to our conversions it would then only be 27cm away from the Earth.
Another way of measuring the distance between the Moon and Earth is to use light. Light travels at 300,000km per second, which means that it only takes light just over 2 seconds to travel in between the Earth and Moon. Where as it takes light only 8.2 minutes to travel to the Sun and back to the Earth.
Another way of measuring the distance between the Moon and Earth is to use light. Light travels at 300,000km per second, which means that it only takes light just over 2 seconds to travel in between the Earth and Moon. Where as it takes light only 8.2 minutes to travel to the Sun and back to the Earth.