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The Moon's surface exhibits many other geological features. In addition to mountains, valleys, and impact craters, the following surface features have received names in the Lunar nomenclature , many of them named after a nearby crater or mountain.
Geological studies of the Moon are based on a combination of Earth-based telescope observations, measurements from orbiting spacecraft, lunar samples, and geophysical data. . Six locations were sampled directly during the crewed Apollo program landings from 1969 to 1972, which returned 382 kilograms (842 lb) of lunar rock and lunar soil to Earth [8] In addition, three robotic Soviet Luna ...
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 Moon is the largest natural satellite of and the closest major astronomical object to Earth. The Moon may be observed by using a variety of optical instruments, ranging from the naked eye to large telescopes. The Moon is the only celestial body upon which surface features can be discerned with the unaided eyes of most people.
In 1961, the first globe (1: 13 600 000 scale) [26] containing lunar features invisible from the Earth was released in the USSR, based on images from Luna 3. [ 27 ] On 20 July 1965, another Soviet probe, Zond 3 , transmitted 25 pictures of very good quality of the lunar far side, [ 28 ] with much better resolution than those from Luna 3.
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 ...
The same side always faces Earth because the moon takes the same amount of time to complete an orbit of Earth and rotate around its axis: about 27 days. Additionally, the far side of the moon has ...
Lunar craters as captured through the backyard telescope of an amateur astronomer, partially illuminated by the sun on a waning crescent moon. Evidence collected during the Apollo Project and from uncrewed spacecraft of the same period proved conclusively that meteoric impact, or impact by asteroids for larger craters, was the origin of almost ...