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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 over time synchronized the Moon's orbital period ( lunar month) with its rotation period ( lunar day) at 29.5 Earth days, causing the same side of the Moon ...
Atmosphere of the Moon. The thin lunar atmosphere is visible on the Moon's surface at sunrise and sunset with the lunar horizon glow [ 1] and lunar twilight rays, like Earth's crepuscular rays. This Apollo 17 sketch depicts the glow and rays [ 2] among the general zodiacal light [ 3][ 4]. The atmosphere of the Moon is a very sparse layer of ...
A view of the south pole of the Moon showing where reflectance and temperature data indicate the possible presence of surface water ice. The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon. It is of interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features ...
Moon's internal structure. Olivine basalt collected by Apollo 15. Thermal state of the Moon at age 100 Ma. [ 1] Having a mean density of 3,346.4 kg/m 3, [ 2] the Moon is a differentiated body, being composed of a geochemically distinct crust, mantle, and planetary core. This structure is believed to have resulted from the fractional ...
The average surface temperature is about 90.6 K (-182.55 °C, or -296.59 °F). [2] At this temperature water ice has an extremely low vapor pressure, so the atmosphere is nearly free of water vapor. However the methane in the atmosphere causes a substantial greenhouse effect which keeps the surface of Titan at a much higher temperature than ...
0.1 μPa (10 −12 bar) [ 14] Europa / jʊˈroʊpə / ⓘ, or Jupiter II, is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the sixth-closest to the planet of all the 95 known moons of Jupiter. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System. Europa was discovered independently by Simon Marius and Galileo Galilei [ 2] and ...
The same process would be necessary when considering the surface temperature of the Moon, which has an equilibrium temperature of 271 K (−2 °C; 28 °F), but can have temperatures of 373 K (100 °C; 212 °F) in the daytime and 100 K (−173 °C; −280 °F) at night.
The geology of the Moon (sometimes called selenology, although the latter term can refer more generally to "lunar science") is quite different from that of Earth. The Moon lacks a true atmosphere, and the absence of free oxygen and water eliminates erosion due to weather. Instead, the surface is eroded much more slowly through the bombardment ...