10 Things You Never Knew About The Moon

living for science

“There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.”  ~ George Carlin

People don’t know enough about the moon. Not that it’s specifically important or anything, but honestly, how many times have you looked at the Moon and just moved on without really considering it’s impact on your everyday life? Have you ever wondered: How did the moon get there? What the heck is it made of? How does it stay so perfectly in sync with the Earth? It’s time to answer all those questions and more…here are my top 10 favorite facts about the moon that you probably never knew:

1. The Moon is the largest natural satellite relative to it’s primary planet in the entire Solar System. 

The Moon is MASSIVE. Well, on a planetary scale, not so much, but comparatively to most anything we can think of on Earth, it’s pretty stinking…

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5 Must Know Definitions of Rocky Bodies in Space.

        1. ASTEROID (MINOR PLANETS)

                  A body smaller than a planet and made of rock ,metal,and other minerals.There is a large belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.They revolve around the Sun between 2.1 and 3.1 astronomical units.Example : Ceres,4 Vesta.

  2. METEOR (SHOOTING STARS)

              A chunk or rock or metal that enters into Earth’s atmosphere & burns up in a fiery show.

3. METEORITE

A chunk or rock or metal that has fallen to Earth from beyond it’s atmosphere.When it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere ,it is seen as a flash of light as it burns as a result of heating caused by friction.

4.METEOROID

A chunk of rock moving through space.

      5.COMET

Comets are heaps of small particles of rock and dust like materials surrounded by large masses of easily vaporized substances like ice,water and ammonia,and methane.They move in highly elliptical orbit and spend most of their time away from the Sun.The formation of tail of a comet is due to what is called Radiation Pressure.Example: Halley’s Comet.

More about Comets: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/cometmyth/lesson/facts/Fact6/index_nf.html

 

Nebula or Space Clouds

 

One of the most beautiful sights in outer space is that of the nebulae.

Unlike clouds in our atmosphere ,these clouds consists of ionized gases basically hydrogen and helium.
Now why are they important?
They are the birth place of stars.Gases and dust come together to form huge masses that eventually
become stars.i.e (Nuclear Fusion begins).Nebulae span over light years of distance and temperatures can be extreme.The catching names are given by their shape.The spectacular display of color is due to the chemical composition and ionization of gases.

Most of the Nebulae are formed from supernova explosions.
Some examples are : Crab Nebula,Boomerang Nebula,Fox Fur Nebula.