Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite.It orbits at an average distance of 384,400 km (238,900 mi), about 30 times the diameter of Earth. Tidal forces between Earth and the Moon have synchronized the Moon's orbital period (lunar month) with its rotation period at 29.5 Earth days, causing the same side of the Moon to always face Earth.
The Sun's gravitational effect on the Moon is more than twice that of Earth's on the Moon; consequently, the Moon's trajectory is always convex [25] [26] (as seen when looking Sunward at the entire Sun–Earth–Moon system from a great distance outside Earth–Moon solar orbit), and is nowhere concave (from the same perspective) or looped.
The instantaneous Earth–Moon distance, or distance to the Moon, is the distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Moon. In contrast, the Lunar distance ( LD or Δ ⊕ L {\textstyle \Delta _{\oplus L}} ), or Earth–Moon characteristic distance , is a unit of measure in astronomy .
The moon’s gravity slightly bent Juice’s path so it received a much larger gravity assist from Earth. The flyby of Earth reduced Juice’s speed by 10,737 miles per hour (4.8 kilometers per ...
Earth's sidereal day would eventually have the same length as the Moon's orbital period, about 47 times the length of the Earth day at present. However, Earth is not expected to become tidally locked to the Moon before the Sun becomes a red giant and engulfs Earth and the Moon. [10] [11] For bodies of similar size the effect may be of ...
The spectrum of 2024 PT5 is "well-matched" by samples of the Moon and may have a common origin with the well-known asteroid Kamo’oalewa, considered a quasi-moon of Earth because of its orbit.
China's Chang'e 6 probe returned on Earth with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first. “I now declare that the Chang’e 6 Lunar Exploration ...
When the Sun and Moon are aligned on the same side of the Earth (conjunct), the Moon is "new", and the side of the Moon facing Earth is not illuminated by the Sun. As the Moon waxes (the amount of illuminated surface as seen from Earth increases), the lunar phases progress through the new moon, crescent moon, first-quarter moon, gibbous moon ...