facts

[alecras2345]

Hi I'm trying to teach myself various facts about the objects within our solar system by looking at the Nasa website.  I'm not sure what facts to take,  I know the distance is good to know, how long is a planets orbit, how long a planets rotation period is but what other facts should i know?  Here are the facts i've got about the moon.  Any other facts i should add?   I have started facts on the moon from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/e...moon/overview/ . Do these sound ok, do i need to add important facts?

Earth/Moon distance approx– 238,855 miles
Moving about an inch further away from earth each year
Synchronous rotation – Same side always faces Earth
Orbit – 27 days
No atmosphere
Lunar eclipse – moon passes into Earths shadow during full moon
Diameter – 2,158 miles

[oobydooby]

That is something only you can resolve.  What do you intend doing with these facts? 

 

[Timebandit]

 

In regards the moon . Loads of facts out there. A good moon map would be a good addition for you. So you can learn the parts of the moon as you look at it . There's numerous sea's on the moon. Loads of craters , mountains ect ect ,

So a good moon map with all the parts named would be useful for you. So when you look through the telescope you know what you are looking at also useful to explain to others what you have seen.

Also the SGL site has a lot on lunar and planetary observing and advice in the post's on here. Keep reading this site and the knowledge will come with time.

I hope this helps☺

 

 

[Highburymark]

Here's a nifty one.

The moon has around 3 trillion craters more than a metre in diameter. At least according to the book I''m reading.

[michaelmorris]

1 hour ago, oobydooby said:

That is something only you can resolve.  What do you intend doing with these facts? 

 

Ditto

What facts are important is completely dependent upon what you want to do with the information.

[brantuk]

Here's a good one for you young chap:

The Moon is about 400 times smaller than the Sun, but it also just happens to be about 400 times closer to Earth. The result is that from Earth, they appear to be the same size.

Hope that helps

[Timebandit]

 

 

Only 12 people have ever walked on the moon?

 

And No the moon is not made of cheese?

 

 

[saac]

I'm not one of them.

 

ok I'll get my hat and coat  

[alecras2345]

How do these sound about the moon?  

Earth/Moon distance approx– 238,855

Moving about an inch further away from earth each year

Synchronous rotation – Same side always faces Earth

Orbit – 27.3 days

Elliptical orbit

Exosphere – Very thin  atmosphere

moon Diameter – 2,158 miles

Lunar eclipse – moon passes into Earths shadow

Affects tides on Earth

[Stu]

30 minutes ago, alecras2345 said:

Affects tides on Earth

I think it would be more accurate to say that the moon causes the tides on earth, combined with the sun. The moon has the larger effect though.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/tides/tides02_cause.html

[SilverAstro]

1 hour ago, alecras2345 said:

How do these sound about the moon?  

Moving about an inch further away from earth each year

I read that it is about 1&1/2 inches, 38.08±0.04 mm/yr

I have no means to verify this, and you know what they say about believing all one reads

That error bound of ±0.04 raises a further question, how accurate do you need these facts to be ?

16 hours ago, saac said:

I'm not one of them.

ok I'll get my hat and coat  

In my dreams

ok , I'll get my umbrella , , , 

[knobby]

Most non astronomers see a full moon and say 'ooh that looks nice , getting your scope out tonight' when in reality it gets in the way of observing !

[brantuk]

7 hours ago, SilverAstro said:

I read that it is about 1&1/2 inches, 38.08±0.04 mm/yr

I have no means to verify this, and you know what they say about believing all one reads

I don't know which website, but there's a professional obsy in the states that shines a laser up to reflectors on the moons surface (left there from moon landings) and measures the time for the beam to return to Earth, in order to extrapolate the average distance moved over a year. It's more verifiable than one might think.

(Might be the Keck observatory iirc - or something like that lol)

[SilverAstro]

12 minutes ago, brantuk said:

It's more verifiable than one might think.

Absolutely ! McDonald Obsy  or similar name, still? ranging the retro reflectors,

I fear you missed my tongue-in-cheek attempt at humour   - I said I    did not have the means ie. my own hardware ! to verify ! ! 

 

[SilverAstro]

Update :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald_Observatory

  "The McDonald Observatory is equipped with a wide range of instrumentation for imaging and spectroscopy in the optical and infrared spectra, and operates the first lunar laser ranging station. "

[Ruud]

I suppose Wikipedia is a good starting point. It has this on Mars (just an example). Try the lemma on the Solar System and explore from there!

• 1   Physical characteristics
  • 1.1 Internal structure
  • 1.2 Surface geology
  • 1.3 Soil
  • 1.4 Hydrology
  • 1.5 Geography and naming of surface features
  • 1.6 Atmosphere
  • 1.7 Climate
• 2   Orbit and rotation
• 3   Habitability and search for life
  • 3.1 Search for life
• 4   Moons
• 5   Exploration
  • 5.1 Future
• 6   Astronomy on Mars
• 7   Viewing
  • 7.1 Closest approaches
• 8   Historical observations
  • 8.1 Ancient and medieval observations
  • 8.2 Martian "canals"
  • 8.3 Spacecraft visitation
• 9   In culture
  • 9.1 Intelligent "Martians"
  •  
•  

[brantuk]

3 hours ago, SilverAstro said:

I fear you missed my tongue-in-cheek attempt at humour

D'ohhhh.... yep I think I musta been a bit dozy missing that. A niggle in the back of my mind did suggest something wasn't quite right as I wrote it  lol.

[SilverAstro]

4 minutes ago, brantuk said:

 lol.

No worries, my use of text is not the most fathomable at times   (that is an understatement and a half !!) and it did give us the opportunity to refresh our memories of those Apollo retroreflectors being taken there, and that they are still in use !