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.
More recently, especially in science-fiction content, the Moon has been called by the Latin name Luna, presumably on the analogy of the Latin names of the planets, or by association with the adjectival form lunar, or a need to differentiate it from other moons that may be present in a fictional setting.
The Moon's heavily cratered far-side. The origin of the Moon is usually explained by a Mars-sized body striking the Earth, creating a debris ring that eventually collected into a single natural satellite, the Moon, but there are a number of variations on this giant-impact hypothesis, as well as alternative explanations, and research continues into how the Moon came to be formed.
The snow moon will be at full illumination on Feb. 5, peaking at 1:30 p.m. EST in the U.S. Moon heads will probably want to check it out just before the peak on the night of Feb. 4, or the evening ...
The adjusted timeline from Nimmo’s team may also help explain why minerals on the moon called zircon — which were found in Apollo moon rocks — were estimated to be roughly 4.5 billion years ...
Earth, when viewed as a planet, is sometimes also called by its Latin scientific conventional name Terra, this name is especially prevalent in science fiction where the adjective "terran" is also used in the way which "Lunar" or "Jovian" is for Earth's moon or Jupiter. The Latin convention derives from the use of that language as an ...
In April, the "pink moon" passed overhead, and in a few more days, we'll see the "flower moon." Despite the name, our last full moon wasn't actually pink. So, where did it get the name?
A subsatellite, also known as a submoon or informally a moonmoon, is a "moon of a moon" or a hypothetical natural satellite that orbits the moon of a planet. [3] It is inferred from the empirical study of natural satellites in the Solar System that subsatellites may be rare, albeit possible, elements of planetary systems. In the Solar System ...