The Moon
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The Moon, sometimes called 'Luna', is a relatively large terrestrial
planet-like satellite, whose diameter is about one-quarter of the
Earth's. With the exception of Pluto's Charon, it is the largest
moon in the Solar system relative to the size of its planet. The
natural satellites orbiting other planets are called "moons", after
Earth's Moon.
The gravitational attraction between the Earth and Moon cause the
tides on Earth. The same effect on the Moon has led to its tidal
locking: Its rotation period is the same as the time it takes to
orbit the Earth. As a result, it always presents the same face to
the planet. |
As the Moon orbits Earth, different parts of its face are
illuminated by the Sun, leading to the lunar phases: The dark part
of the face is separated from the light part by the solar
terminator.
The Moon may dramatically affect the development of life by taming
the weather. Paleontological evidence and computer simulations show
that Earth's axial tilt is stabilized by tidal interactions with the
Moon. Some theorists believe that, without this stabilization
against the torques applied by the Sun and planets to the Earth's
equatorial bulge, the rotational axis might be chaotically unstable,
as it appears to be with Mars. If Earth's axis of rotation were to
approach the plane of the ecliptic, extremely severe weather could
result, as this would make seasonal differences extreme. One pole
would be pointed directly toward the Sun during summer and directly
away during winter. Planetary scientists who have studied the effect
claim that this might kill all large animal and higher plant life.
This remains a controversial subject, however, and further studies
of Mars—which shares Earth's rotation period and axial tilt, but not
its large moon or liquid core—may provide additional insight.
The Moon is just far enough away to have, when seen from Earth, very
nearly the same apparent angular size as the Sun (the Sun is 400
times larger, but the Moon is 400 times closer). This allows total
eclipses and annular eclipses to occur on Earth.
The most widely accepted theory of the Moon's origin, the giant
impact theory, states that it was formed from the collision of a
Mars-size protoplanet with the early Earth. This hypothesis explains
(among other things) the Moon's relative lack of iron and volatile
elements, and the fact that its composition is nearly identical to
that of the Earth's crust.
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Earth also has at least one co-orbital asteroid, 3753 Cruithne. |
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