Only 12 people have experienced the pleasant sensation of touching the moon to this day. Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Charles Conard, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, Devin Scott, James Irwin, Charles Duke, John Young, Gene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt are all Americans.
They are the only people in the world to have landed on the
moon and walked on its surface. The total distance walked by these 12 Americans
on the moon is about 90 kilometres. The weight of the soil that was dug and
brought back to Earth from the moon is about 400 kilograms.
This soil, which was taken from the new celestial body in
outer space, has been studied by more than a thousand scientists from nearly 20
countries. Like the Earth, the moon has many layers such as the surface, the
interior, and the core, but the moon has different characteristics.
The density of the moon is higher than that of the Earth when
compared to the rocks on the surface. The density of the moon rocks is 3.34 g/cm3,
while on Earth it is 2.3 g/cm3. The density of an object is the
value of the mass of the object with a certain mass. The average density is
higher for the Earth because the mass of the moon is 1/81 of the mass of the
Earth.
Since the average density of the Earth is 5.5 g/cm3,
it is clear that the Earth's interior is probably made of heavy elements, and
since the moon has a density of 3.3 g/cm3, it is unlikely that it
has a solid interior. In fact, 1/3 of the Earth's mass is just iron. Most of
this is molten in the centre of the Earth.
Although the Moon does not have such a vast interior, there
is evidence that it may have a small one. The surface temperature in the
equatorial regions of the Moon varies greatly from 135 degrees Celsius during
the day to minus 170 degrees Celsius in the evening, but this temperature
difference is not observed at a depth of three feet. Below that, the
temperature increases with depth.
If this is the case, it was found that the moon emits twice
as much heat as the Earth. This indicates that the interior of the moon may also
be metallic slurry. The experimental instruments carried have also accurately
shown that the moon has a magnetic field. Since this can only happen if there
is an iron core, it was known that it is not wrong to assume that the moon may
have a small interior.
The temperature of iron in a molten state is 1540° Celsius,
but if the temperature of the interior is calculated by considering the
pressure caused by the outer layers surrounding the core tightening the
interior, it is reported that it would be 1650° Celsius.
At this temperature, the moon could melt, but the iron core
contains a small amount of magnetism, which reduces the temperature in the
interior to 980°C, and this is the reason why the interior of the moon does not
melt at high temperatures.
Although the moon is similar to the Earth in some ways, some anomalies on the moon are not seen on Earth. The centre of mass
of the moon is away from its centre of mass. The moon appears to have migrated
towards the Earth. The scientific explanation for this has not yet been
determined.
Since the moon has no atmosphere, its surface heats up very
quickly during the day and cools down quickly at night. This results in a large
temperature difference between day and night. If there is a small hill, the
temperature in the shadow of the hill will be very low and very high outside
the moon.
This temperature difference can be as high as 300 degrees
Celsius. This is unimaginable on Earth. Many people think that there is no
atmosphere on the moon, but they are wrong and that there is a thin atmosphere
on the moon. It was discovered that the atmosphere contains only inert gases
such as argon, helium and neon.
However, there is no oxygen, and not even a little moisture or
moisture is found on the moon. Therefore, there is no chance of a time when
life will develop beyond evolution. Since there is no significant atmosphere on
the moon, the sky appears completely black when viewed from there, so you can
see the stars in the sky even during the day.
It is considered that it will be a good base for space
researchers since constellations are clearly visible in the distance. Due to
the lack of an atmosphere, it is very common for meteorites to fall on the
surface of the moon.
Although meteorites also hit the Earth, they are heated and
thrown away due to the friction that occurs when they pass through the
atmosphere. Because of the continuous falling of meteorites on the moon, the
surface of the moon is full of craters that look like volcanic craters.
During the day, these craters appear bright and the craters
appear dark. These craters are said to be waterless oceans. The moon rotates
once in the time it takes to orbit the Earth. This makes it impossible to see
the other side of the moon as it is on Earth.
It was only after the spacecraft launched from Earth took
pictures and sent them that we were able to learn a little about the back of
the moon. The back of the moon is different from the front in many ways. There
are not so many ridges and craters on the back of the moon.
Since there are fewer ridges and craters on the back of the
moon, it strengthens the idea that the back of the moon may be slightly thicker
than the front. The front is more radioactive than the back. The moon has less
iron than the Earth, but metallic iron, which is frozen at high temperatures
and high pressures, is abundant on the moon, but metallic iron is very rare on
Earth.
Apart from metallic iron, a new substance is also found on
the moon. It is a mixture of iron, magnesium and titanium in a certain proportion.
This new substance is found on the surface of the moon like minerals such as
monazite and Ilmenite found on the beaches of many countries.
The new material has been named Armalcolite in honour of Neil
Armstrong, the first to set foot on the moon, and Aldrin and Collins, the next.
This new material is found only on the moon, as it contains five times more
titanium than on Earth.
This is evidence that the moon did not originate from the
Earth. The moon is gradually moving away from the Earth. The moon causes the
oceans on the Earth to swell, which hinders the rotation of the Earth. As the
Earth's rotation speed slows down, the moon's orbital radius increases.