Just when you thought it was over, it’s back. The Solar System’s worst tour has returned for another scheduled stop. Yes, it’s Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System! This is the seventh stop of the tour, so if you want to get caught up, now’s the chance.
1.) Introduction
2.) The Sun
4.) Mercury
5.) Venus
6.) Earth
For today’s thrilling chapter, we will be stopping by Earth’s BFF1; the Moon. Many cultures have their own stories and myths concerning the Moon, so we will just be sticking to the cold, hard data that Spock, Batman, and Sherlock Holmes would appreciate.
Sweet? Ok then, strap yourself in for lunacy.2
Let’s discuss the oliphaunt in the room, shall we? Her name is Angela, and after surviving the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, she has a lot of time to think about things. She told me one of these things is the Moon’s name. The name of Earth’s only moon is …..the Moon. I have stated this before, but scientists are extremely important and world-changing people, but some of them suck at naming things.
Angela and I love the concept that the Moon is named after a moon. It’s a moon, so let’s call it the Moon! Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and even Pluto have moons, and every one has a real name. Some of them have badarse names like Deimos, Themisto, Hyperion, Oberon, Proteus, and Hydra. This means a collection of people would have discovered these moons, and given them truly creative and imaginative names, from various genres of literature.
But for our one and only moon, the best name humanity could come up with was the Moon. Yes, it has nicknames for informal occasions like Luna and Selene; but we could have called it Brightnail, Paroan, Vengeance, Merchant of the Void, Moony McMoon Face, or even Dave, however, we thought the Moon was a lot more edgier and hardcore.
It’s a wonder that Earth isn’t just called Planet.
The age of the Moon is certainly under debate in scientific circles. From what I understand, the Moon is estimated to be around 4.5 billion years old, but new research dates the Moon to be 4.425 billion years old. I heard some astrophysicists, astronomers, and astrogeologists, will enter a death match competition to determine the correct age; and the winners will have bragging rights and the globally accepted age of the Moon. It’ll be a battle royale involving reflecting telescopes, spectrometers, rovers, and satellites.
Another hot theory that’s up for discussion, is the origin of the Moon. I mean, why does the Earth have a moon? How did it get there? And since jumping over it, has the location of the cow been discovered?
One of the leading theories concerning the origin of the Moon, does not involve radioactive spiders, being struck by lightning and doused in chemicals, or being forged by the Dark Lord on his dark throne. The theory involves a hypothetical proto-planet, Theia, cruising around the Solar System before slamming into Earth. The debris from the collision was ejected into space, where over a huge amount of time, it coalesced and eventually formed the Moon.
I also could be stating the obvious here, that even though the Moon is a moon, the Moon has no moons, as well as being like Sauron; ringless.3
The Moon has a radius of 1,740 kilometres (1,080 miles) and a diameter of 3,475 kilometers (2,159 miles). This makes it the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, but also the most massive in relation to the planet that it orbits. I’m sure that would build up the Moon’s self-esteem if it heard that.
The average distance of the Moon to Earth is about 384,400 km (238,855 miles). On a cosmic scale, this distance seems extremely tiny, but it’s not. Like many other planets and moons in the solar system, the Moon’s orbit of the Earth is elliptical. When the Moon is at the furthest point away for us,4 you could fit Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Eris in between Earth and the Moon.
The Moon orbits the Earth about once every 27 days, which is roughly where we get the measurement of the months. So as the Earth rotates, so does the Moon. This is fascinating, as the Moon is tidally locked or in a synchronous rotation with the Earth. This means that our closest neighbour is spinning or rotating at the same rate as us, which causes the same side of the Moon to be always facing Earth.
It’s a common misconception that the Moon has a dark side; I’m looking at you, Pink Floyd! There is no dark side of the Moon, because the side we can’t see, is still bathed in sunlight. It’s actually known as the far side.
Because the Moon orbits the Earth, different sections of the Moon are in darkness and sunlight, at different times of the month. This is known as the Moon’s phases, and it’s all about observing the Moon’s illumination from our perspective. It looks like the Moon is actually changing its shape, but it’s really not.
Do you remember my comment about the Earth and the Moon being BFFs at the start? Well, the Moon is actually moving away from the Earth, at the rate of about 4 cm per year. In hundreds of thousands of years; if not millions, the Moon will be a lot further away and the sky would look a lot different.
Depending on where you live in the world, people can also observe the Moon from different orientations. If you live in the southern hemisphere, you would see the Moon upside down compared to people in the northern hemisphere. If you’re on the equator, you could see various orientations throughout the day.
Against popular belief to some Flat Earthers and Space deniers, the Moon is not a projection or hologram. As for the Moon being a light source, the Moon indeed gives off light, but it does not produce or create light. Moonlight is actually sunlight that is reflected off the surface of the Moon.
This brings us to the Moon’s atmosphere. The Moon has little to no atmosphere; so it’s pretty weak. It offers no protection against radiation from the Sun, unlike the Earth. As for surface temperatures, they can vary a lot. While the Moon is facing full sunlight, temperatures can hit 127 °C (260 °F), however when in darkness, the Moon’s temperature can drop to -173 °C (-280 °F).
Basically, if you’re unlucky enough to be standing on the surface of the Moon without wearing a spacesuit, you’ll be dead in under three minutes. Sorry.
I’m running out of time and there’s so much more to discuss about the Moon, like the craters, the tidal effect, the gravitational and magnetic fields, the ice, and the lack of cheese! I would love to rant about these, but because time runs in one direction in this universe, I’ll talk about the exploration of the Moon instead.
To date, only 12 members of our species have walked on the Moon, but with the Artemis space missions, that is going to change. NASA is going back to the Moon, with Artemis 1 having already launched last year. Artemis 2 (lunar flyby) is scheduled for November 2024, with Artemis 3 (lunar landing) in 2026, and Artemis 4 is on track for September 2028. This also includes the launch of the Lunar Gateway in 2025, unless something stupid happens.
I wasn’t born between 1969-1972, which was the era humans walked on the Moon, so I can’t wait to sit with UMC1 and UMC2, to watch the Artemis missions and a lunar landing!
Alright, that’s it for me. I hope you’re still enjoying the tour, even though the view is quite miserable. Please let me know your thoughts on the tour if you feel up for it.
This coming week, we have the semi-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with Spain vs Sweden, and Australia vs England; as well as the final on Sunday. I’ll be watching them, will you?
I have a tremendous announcement concerning the next four weeks of blogs. This could be a train wreck in slow motion, but I’m going to be writing about the Rugby World Cup, which starts on 8th September. I love rugby, so to my non-rugby following audience, I’m sorry but I’ll try to make this fun for you! 5
Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-finals and final, and I’ll see you next week.
1.) They won’t really be together forever, but it does sound nice.
2.) I couldn’t resist that pun. Sorry, not sorry.
3.) That’s two Sauron references in two precious paragraphs.
4.) This is called apogee. When the Moon is at its closest point to Earth, this is called perigee.
5.) Nothing ages me faster and makes me more anxious than the Rugby World Cup. It takes me four years to recover from each one.
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