Our Satellite

For today's post we are looking at our Moon. In this post there will be information about the moon, the phases of our moon. Comment down what you've learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Our moon is the satellite of our Earth. Our Moon is the brightest and largest object in the night sky. The Moon was named as the "Moon" because there wasn't any other moon discovered, that time. In 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered four moons or Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter. In Latin, our Moon was called Luna, which is our Moon-related: lunar.

Size and Distance

The size and distance of our Moon, with a radius of, 1,737.5 kilometres. Our Moon is less than a third of Earth. Did you know that the moon is far away than most people think, the moon is an average 384,400 km away from Earth. That means that there would be 30 Earth-sized planets between the Earth and the moon. If the Earth was a size of a nickel than the moon would be the size of a coffee bean. The moon is getting about 2.54 centimetres away from Earth every year.

How did the moon form?

The theory of the moon being formed is when a Mars-sized body crashed into Earth about 4.5 billion years ago.

The moon's core is smaller than other inner planets. The hard, iron-rich inner core is 240 km in radius.

Structure 

The surrounded liquid iron shell, 90 km thick. A partly molten layer with a thickness of 150 km, surrounds the iron core. The mantle expands from the top of the partly molten layer to the bottom of the moon's crust. It is more likely made of minerals like, olivine and pyroxene, which are made up of magnesium, iron, silicon with oxygen atoms.

Atmosphere

The moon's atmosphere is very thin and weak, called an exosphere. The atmosphere doesn't provide any protection from the sun's radiation or the impacts of meteoroids.

Missions

Left: Neil Armstrong
Center: Michael Collins
Right: Buzz Aldrin
Credits: wikipedia.com

Luna 1 spacecraft
Credits: wikipedia.com

The first seven missions were unsuccessful, there were four Pioneer spacecrafts, that had failed. But Luna 1, was the first moon flyby.

Luna 1 launched on January 2, 1959. The next Luna spacecraft, Luna 2 was fully successful. Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to impact the moon's surface. On September 14, 1959, Luna 2 reached to the moon by crashing the moon. Luna 3, had a flyby, it was successful, Luna 3 took the first pictures of the lunar farside. Most of the Luna spacecrafts had succeeded, but some had been unsuccessful. Luna 9 was the first lunar soft landing and the first picture from the lunar surface.

Surveyor 1 was the first U.S. moon landing and first U.S. photo from the lunar surface.

Apollo 8 was successful and was the first humans to orbit the moon. Apollo 11 was a famous knowing spacecraft because Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to land on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the only two to step on the moon.

What I've learnt?

• In Latin, the moon means lunar.
• Our moon is less than a third of our Earth.
• 30 Earth-sized planets could fit between the Earth and the moon.
• The moon is getting 2.54 centimetres away from Earth every year.
• Our moon formed 4.5 billion years ago.
• In our Moon, there are elements like olivine, pyroxene, magnesium, iron, silicon, and oxygen atoms.
• The atmosphere is very thin and weak, that is called an exosphere.
• The first seven moon missions had failed. Luna 1 was the first layby spacecraft to reach the moon. Luna 2 had reached the moon's surface. 

The Belt?

For today's post we are looking at the Asteroid Belt. Do you know where is the asteroid belt. How far is it? How many belts are there? In this post we are answering those questions and giving you information about the asteroid belt. Comment down below what you have learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Asteroid Belt
Credits: space-facts.com

The asteroid belt is a ring with dust, rock, asteroids and minor planets that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid belt is more than two to three as far from the sun to Earth (AU - Astronomical Units, the distance of the sun and Earth, 93 million miles, 150 million km). In the asteroid belt it contains billions, could be trillions of asteroids. Most of the asteroids are small, the size from a boulder (a rock with a size greater than 25.6 centimetres in diameter) to around 300 metres in diameter. But some are really larger.

The largest asteroid, 4 Vesta

Most of the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt are made out of rock and stone, but there less of iron and nickel metals containing. The other asteroids are made up of mix of carbon-rich materials. Some of the distance asteroids contain more ices. But there is evidence that some asteroids contain water.

Some asteroids are large and hard bodies. There are more than 16 of those in the belt with a diameter greater than 240 km. The largest asteroids, 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas and 10 Hygiea, are 400 km long lore bigger. The largest asteroid, Ceres, a dwarf planet is the diameter of 950 km, or about a quarter of the size of our moon.

The Discovery of the Asteroid Belt

In the 18th century, Johann Titius, a German astronomer, noted a mathematical pattern in the layout of the planets and used it to predict the existence of one between Mars and Jupiter. In 1800, 25 astronomers organised a group known as the Celestial Police, searching 15 degrees of the Zodiac for the missing planet, in the group there was a Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, he named it Ceres. There was another body found, it was found a year later named Pallas. For sometime, both, Ceres and Pallas were referred as planets. By then the discovery rate of those asteroids increased, by the beginning of the 19th century, more than 100 asteroids had been found. After that, scientists quickly realised that the asteroids were too small to be considered as planets, and they began to call them asteroids. 

What I've learnt?

• Some of the asteroids are made of iron and nickel metal.
• Other asteroids are made out of mix carbon-rich materials.
• There are more than 16 asteroids like 4 Vesta, 2 Pellas, 10 Hygiea etc:
• There are large asteroids like 4 Vesta, 2 Pellas and 10 Hygiea.
• Ceres is the diameter of 950 km and about a quarter of the size of our moon.
• Johann Titius noted a mathematical patter in the layout of the planets.
• Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres and he named it
• Ceres and Pallas was before named as a planet.