The favorite of poets, psychics, astrologers, mystics and fortune-tellers, a symbol of dreams, a talisman of romantics - all this is our constant companion of the Moon. Kilograms of soil, thousands of experiments, six landings only in the Apollo program - and there are still many secrets and mysteries. And what do we know about the structure of the moon? Where did we get the information from and how reliable is it? The answer to these questions and briefly about the structure of the moon will be discussed in this article.
Familiar stranger
Mention of our night guest is found in the most ancient sources - runic Vedas. In 1635, Galileo discovered craters and volcanoes on its surface and for the first time proved that we see only one side of it. In 1959, the Soviet satellite Luna 3 circled the moon and took pictures. In 1969, Apollo 11 landed, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin stepped onto its surface. And in 2009, NASA announced the availability of water in the Cabeus Crater. But what do we still know about the structure of the moon?
It all started with a curiosity
Just those same Armstrong and Aldrin installed a seismometer 20 meters from the ship - a device for measuring tectonic activity. And the device immediately began to show multiple moonquakes. And although those first tremors turned out to be only echoes of the astronauts' steps to the ship, later this device gave data on numerous tremors inside the moon. That is how the myth was dispelled that the internal structure of the moon does not change and the geological activity on our satellite is confirmed.
General characteristics
The moon for earthlings is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, its magnitude is 12.7 m. The moon rotates around its axis and around the Earth, and the periods of these rotations are the same and equal to 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. That is why (libration effect) we always see one side of it.
The mass of the satellite is 81.3 times less than the mass of the Earth and is 7.3477 · 10 22 kg. The average density of 3.35 g / sq. see. Acceleration of gravity of 1.62 m / s², and not 9.8, as on Earth. That is why, if the moon once had an atmosphere, it could not hold it - the force of gravity was not enough.
What's inside
The structural features of the lunar shells are not well understood. After all, the soil was extracted from a depth of only 2.5 meters. All other data on the structure of the moon were obtained by geophysical methods using seismographs.
It is known that its surface is covered by a mixture of dust and rocky debris - rigolith. Meteorites constantly falling to the moon loosen and mix this layer, and its thickness is from centimeters to tens of meters.
Under the dust layer is the crust, upper mantle (asthenosphere), middle mantle, lower mantle and core. The crust at different sites has different thicknesses - from 0 to 105 kilometers and consists of basalt.
The diameter of the mantle is 80% of the total diameter and it consists mainly of rocks: olivine pyroxene, schnitzel, melilite.
What's with the core?
Its presence with the moon was a complete surprise. After all, it was believed that the satellite inside was cooled down.
The core consists of two parts:
- Internal - solid, from sulphurous iron.
- External - liquid, made of iron and impurities of sulfur and nickel.
It makes up 2% of the mass of the satellite and has a diameter of about 340 km. Around it is a boundary molten layer of the lower mantle. Core temperature from 1300K to 1900K
But the center of mass is located 2 km from the geometric center.
What does it consist of?
Today, scientists have at their disposal 385 kg of lunar soil, part of which is stored in packed containers until the invention of new methods for its study. In the meantime, we know that it contains oxygen, iron, magnesium, silicon, titanium, calcium, aluminum, very little silver and gold. In total, about a hundred minerals have been discovered on the moon, against several thousand terrestrial ones.
What is known for sure - there is no organic matter in the lunar soil, not even non-biological organic compounds.
Or maybe everything is wrong?
However, many researchers are convinced that inside the moon is hollow and even artificially created. Supporters of the theory of the hollow moon are not ufologists and science fiction writers, but scientists with world renown. And in support of their point of view, they argue about numerous anomalies in the structure of the moon.
For example, in 1969, NASA conducted an experiment and a probe was dropped on the moon. And the satellite “buzzed” like a bell and this went on for about an hour. Since then, theories and myths about the empty in the middle of the moon are only gaining momentum.
And around our satellite too often the movement of unidentified objects is recorded. Maybe inside and today there is an unearthly civilization that is watching us?
A few more questions
The moon and today holds many mysteries for humanity.
For example, where did the energy of the American complex come from, left there and continued broadcasting for two years? Despite the fact that technologically his batteries were designed for only a year.
Or another question. Modern space satellites take pictures of the Earth with clearly visible even vehicle numbers. But at the same time we have a minimum number of images of the moon and at the same time very poor quality. What do space corporations hide from ordinary people?
And what did Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin really see on the moon, if we take for truth the falsification of their landing?