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Moon
[ 2006-02-07 08:30 ]
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Moon |
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Why does the moon
shine? |
 The moon, a satellite, or small body, rotates
on its axis around the earth, and "shines" when the sun's light
beams onto its surface, and is reflected back to earth.
Unfortunately, only one side of the moon is visible to us on the
earth, as it takes the moon the same length of time to orbit on its
axis, as it takes for it to orbit the earth.
The lunar month is divided into halves. During the first half,
lasting approximately 14 days, the sun's light unrelentingly strikes
the moon, which has no atmosphere or air to protect it from these
rays, and brings the temperature of the moon to above that of the
boiling point. The second half of the lunar month plunges the moon
into cold, dark nights.
Man has learned a great deal about the moon since the days when
ancient man worshipped it as a goddess who ruled the night. Space
flights made by the United States, the USSR, now Russia, and
our Apollo moon landings, unlocked some of the moon's secrets, by
enabling astronauts to collect the moon's soil and rocks, and to
photograph the side of the moon invisible to us for scientific
analysis. The primary goal of scientific studies of the data
collected is to determine if, someday, man can actually inhabit the
moon. |
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