10 Amazing Moon facts !

Hi I stumbeled upon this article. I thought I'd share it with you all.

Edit. Because of the whole freaking Moon covering my profile page.

The Moon !

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d16c72bce537.jpg[/atsimg]

Hi I stumbeled upon this article. I thought I'd share it with you all.

9.

Earth Makes the Moon Rise

Each day, though not at the same time, the moon comes up in the East and goes down in the West -- much like the sun and other stars and for the same reason:

Earth rotates, on its axis, toward the East, pulling celestial objects into view and then forcing them to slip away. The moon also makes an orbital trip around Earth once every 29.5 days. In the sky, this gradual movement is eastward, though it's not perceptible during any given observing session. It is, however, why the moon rises later each day, by about 50 minutes on average.

That also explains why the moon sometimes rises in the evening and us up during the night, while at other times it's up only or mostly during the day.

Never knew that about a day time Moon.

8.

No Dark Side

Contrary to what you might have heard, there is no "dark side" of the moon. There is, however, a "far side" that we can't see from Earth. Here's why:

Long ago, the Earth's gravitational effects slowed the moon's rotation about its axis. Once the moon's rotation slowed enough to match its orbital period (the time it takes the moon to go around Earth) the effect stabilized.

So the moon goes around the Earth once and spins on its axis once, all in the same amount of time, and it shows us just one face the whole time.

4.

Not Round

The moon is not round (or spherical). Instead, it's shaped like an egg. If you go outside and look up at the moon, one of the small ends is pointing right at you. And the moon's center of mass is not at the geometric center of the satellite; it's about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) off-center. Earth, likewise, buldges in its midcenter.

You can find the other 7 facts in this Link!

Enjoy

Edit to fix bb code

Thanks for bringing this up Semper
I always wondered how I could make it look like that.

Mod Edit to fix "EX" tags

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[edit on 5/1/2010 by semperfortis]

[edit on 5/1/2010 by Sinter Klaas]

I love the Moon, seriously I spend alot of time looking at her. I wish I had a decent scope!

Thanks for sharing these facts SK! Alwasy can use some Moon trivia.

Thank you from an extreme Moon novice.

Turly apprecitated. I wanted to look stuff up about the Moon-such as this stuff but never get around to it.

S&F

reply to post by anon72


Yes I can relate with you here.
My favourite list is so long I have to get in an elevator and go all the way to the roof to see the one in the bottom.

Things keep coming up.


Reply to Theability

I didn't even know a few
Shocking revelation. I guess I do not know everything.

A couple of years ago, Discovery Channel aired the documentary "If we had no moon" That was one of the best documentary I saw about our little friend up there. They almost say that if there was no moon, life would be impossible on earth.

reply to post by St-Patrick


I've seen it yes. Remarkable how everything has to be just right. isn't it.

Star for you