Why is information about cities on the moon hidden?
There was a time when no one expected that Earth’s cosmic neighbor could puzzle scientists with so many secrets. Many imagined the Moon as a lifeless stone ball covered with craters, and on its surface there were ancient cities, mysterious huge mechanisms and UFO bases.
Why is information about the Moon hidden?
Photographs of UFOs taken by astronauts on lunar expeditions have long been published. Facts suggest that all American flights to the Moon took place under the complete control of aliens. What did the first man on the moon see? Let us recall the words of Neil Armstrong intercepted by American radio amateurs:
Armstrong: "What is this? What the hell is the matter? I would like to know the truth, what is it?”
NASA: "What's happening? Is something wrong?
Armstrong: “There are big objects here, sir! Huge! Oh my God! Here are other spaceships! They are standing on the other side of the crater. They are on the moon and watching us!”
Much later, quite interesting reports appeared in the press, which said that the Americans on the Moon were directly given to understand: the place was occupied, and earthlings had nothing to do here... Allegedly, there were even almost hostile actions on the part of the aliens.
Yes, astronauts Cernan And Schmitt observed a mysterious explosion of the lunar module antenna. One of them transmitted to the command module located in orbit: “Yes, she exploded. Something flew over her just before... it's still..." At this time, another astronaut enters the conversation: "God! I thought we were going to get hit by this... this... just look at this thing!”
After lunar expeditions Wernher von Braun said: “There are extraterrestrial forces that are much stronger than we imagined. I have no right to say anything more about this.”
Apparently, the inhabitants of the Moon did not greet the Earth’s envoys very warmly, since the Apollo program was terminated ahead of schedule, and the three completed ships remained unused. Apparently, the meeting was so cool that both the USA and the USSR forgot about the Moon for decades, as if there was nothing interesting on it.
After the famous panic in the United States in October 1938, the authorities of this country do not risk traumatizing their citizens with messages about the reality of aliens. After all, then, during the radio broadcast of H. Wells’ novel “The War of the Worlds,” thousands of people believed that the Martians had actually attacked the Earth. Some fled the cities in panic, others hid in basements, others built barricades and prepared to repel the invasion of terrible monsters with weapons in their hands...
It is not surprising that all information about aliens on the Moon was classified. As it turned out, not only the presence of aliens on the Earth’s satellite was hidden from the world community, but also the presence on it ruins of ancient cities, mysterious structures and mechanisms.
Ruins of grandiose buildings
October 30, 2007 former head of the NASA Lunar Laboratory Photography Service Ken Johnston and writer Richard Hoagland organized a press conference in Washington, reports of which immediately appeared in all world news channels. And this is not surprising, because it was a sensation that caused the effect of a bomb exploding. Johnston and Hoagland stated that at one time American astronauts discovered on the Moon ruins of ancient cities And artifacts, speaking about the existence on it in the distant past of a certain highly developed civilization.
At the press conference, photographs of objects of clearly artificial origin present on the lunar surface were shown. As Johnston admitted, NASA From lunar photographic materials released into the public domain, all details that could raise suspicion about their artificial origin were removed.
“I saw with my own eyes how in the late 60s NASA employees were ordered to paint over the lunar sky on the negatives,” Johnston recalls. - When I asked: “Why?”, they explained to me: “So as not to mislead the astronauts, because the sky on the Moon is black!”
According to Ken, in a number of photographs, intricate configurations appeared in white stripes against the backdrop of a black sky, which were the ruins of grandiose buildings that once reached several kilometers high.
Of course, make such pictures freely available, uncomfortable questions it would be unavoidable. Richard Hoagland showed reporters a photograph of a grandiose structure - a glass tower, which the Americans called a “castle.” This may be one of the tallest structures discovered on the Moon.
Hoagland made a rather interesting statement: “Both NASA and the Soviet space program separately found that we are not alone in the universe. There are ruins on the moon, the legacy of a culture that was much more enlightened than we are now.".
So that the sensation does not become a shock
By the way, in the second half of the 90s a similar briefing on the topic was already held. The official press release then read: “On March 21, 1996, at a briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, NASA scientists and engineers involved in the Moon and Mars exploration programs reported the results of processing the information received. For the first time, the existence of artificial structures and man-made objects on the Moon was announced.”
Of course, already at that briefing, journalists asked why such sensational facts were hidden for so long? Here is the response from one of the NASA employees at the time: “...20 years ago it was difficult to predict how people would react to the message that someone was or is on the Moon in our time. In addition, there were other reasons not related to NASA.".
It's worth noting that NASA appears to have intentionally leaked information about extraterrestrial intelligence on the Moon. Otherwise it is difficult to explain the fact that George Leonard, who published his book There's Someone Else on Our Moon in 1970, wrote it based on numerous photographs he had access to at NASA. It is curious that the entire circulation of his book almost instantly disappeared from store shelves. It is believed that it could have been bought in bulk to prevent the book from becoming widely distributed.
Leonard writes in his book: “We were assured that the Moon was completely lifeless, but the data tells a different story. Decades before the space age, astronomers mapped hundreds of strange “domes,” observed “cities that grow,” and single lights, explosions, and geometric shadows were noticed by both professionals and amateurs.”.
He provides an analysis of numerous photographs in which he was able to distinguish both artificial structures and gigantic mechanisms of amazing size. There is a feeling that the Americans have developed some kind of plan to gradually prepare their population, and humanity as a whole, to the idea that an extraterrestrial civilization has settled on the Moon.
Most likely, this plan even included myth about the lunar scam: well, since the Americans did not fly to the moon, it means that all reports about aliens and cities on the earth’s satellite cannot be considered reliable.
So, first came George Leonard's book, which was not widely read, then the 1996 briefing, which attracted wider attention, and finally the 2007 press conference, which became a worldwide sensation. And this did not lead to any shocks, because there was never an official statement from the American authorities, or even from NASA itself.
Will earthly archaeologists be allowed on the Moon?
Richard Hoagland was lucky enough to obtain photographs taken by Apollo 10 and Apollo 16, in which the Sea of Crisis is clearly visible city. The photographs show towers, spiers, bridges and viaducts. The city is located under a transparent dome, damaged in some places by a hit large meteorites. This dome, like many structures on the Moon, is made of a material that looks like crystal or fiberglass.
Ufologists write that, according to secret research NASA and the Pentagon, "crystal", from which lunar structures are made, its structure resembles steel, and in terms of strength and durability it has no earthly analogues.
Who created the transparent domes?, lunar cities, “crystal” castles and towers, pyramids, obelisks and other artificial structures, sometimes reaching dimensions of several kilometers?
Some researchers suggest that millions, and perhaps tens of thousands of years ago, the Moon served as a transit base for some extraterrestrial civilization that had its own goals on Earth.
There are other hypotheses. According to one of them, lunar cities were built by a powerful earthly civilization that died as a result of war or a global cataclysm.
Having lost support from Earth, the lunar colony withered away and ceased to exist. Of course, the ruins of lunar cities are of great interest to scientists. Their study could provide answers to many questions related to ancient history Earth civilization might have been able to learn some high technologies.
The mistress of the night sky has always attracted human attention. Numerous signs, rituals, and beliefs of people are associated with it. Many lunar secrets have already been revealed. However Interesting Facts about the Moon, which scientists cannot clearly explain, continue to excite people’s minds.
- For the first time, areas on the Moon began to be sold by the American company The Lunar Embassy, founded by Dennis Hope, at a price of $20 per acre (approximately 4046 sq.m.). This American, having studied the UN Convention on Outer Space, concluded that it does not contain a single instruction banning the ownership of stars and planets by private individuals. In 1980 he proclaimed himself the owner of the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Io, Venus and began trading in “star” areas.
- Christopher Columbus, during his 4th expedition, used a total lunar eclipse to save his crew from starvation. It happened in America on February 29. The Indians of Jamaica, where the travelers were forced to spend a year, over time began to supply them with provisions worse. To frighten the aborigines, on the day of the eclipse, Columbus announced to them the wrath of the gods for their negligence and went to the ship’s cabin “to pray for forgiveness.” At the end of the eclipse, he announced that the Indians were forgiven. Food supplies have been resumed.
- The only person buried on the Moon is the famous American astronomer and geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Health problems prevented him from making interplanetary flights. After his death, his ashes were transported in a capsule by the Lunar Prospector interplanetary research station to the Moon in 1998.
- Due to the low gravity on the Earth's satellite, fine and hard lunar dust with the smell of gunpowder can penetrate everywhere. In astronauts it caused symptoms similar to hay fever. Penetrating into spacesuits and shoes, it significantly damaged them.
- The bloody "queen of the night" happens during full lunar eclipse . During this period, the Earth is on the same line between the Moon and the Sun. Light waves The red spectrum (as the longest) of sunlight, refracted in the earth's atmosphere, gives the “night sun” a crimson hue.
- The night luminary does not have its own magnetic field . However, the stones brought by the astronauts, nevertheless, magnetic properties possess. Where does this paradox come from? Scientists put forward 2 theories about this: the magnetic field disappeared due to the movement of the iron core of the Moon and its collision with meteorites.
- There are moonquakes on the moon, however, compared to earthly ones, they are very weak. Their maximum rating was 5.5 points on the Richter scale. The causes of lunar “earthquakes” have not yet been clarified.
- The “Fallen Astronaut” monument, measuring only 8 cm (by Paul Van Heijdonk), was erected on August 1, 1971. at the landing site of the Apollo 15 crew. The plaque next to it contains the names of 14 fallen space explorers. Among them is Yu. Gagarin.
- A "blue moon" is the second full moon in a calendar month.. It is observed once every 2.7154 years. The name of this event is determined not only by the color of the night star, but also by the translation of the English idiom “once in a Blue Moon”. In the Russian version, this corresponds to “after the rain on Thursday” (not soon or never).
- The difference in daily temperatures on the Moon ranges from -100°С to +160°С. On Earth, the record daily temperature drop occurred on January 23, 1916 in America (Montana): from +6.7 to -48.8 degrees Celsius.
- It became possible to see the far side of the earth's satellite only after October 7, 1959. On this day, the Soviet space station Luna 3 took its first photograph.
- Dark spots on the surface of the Moon that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye are called maria.. They are lowlands, the bottom of which is filled with dark solidified lava. There is no water in them. The first time a person set foot on the Moon was on the territory of the Sea of Tranquility on July 21, 1969.
- There are many craters on the moon. The giant among them is Hertzsprung, reaching a diameter of 591 km. It is located on the dark side of the Moon, so it is not visible from Earth. On the visible side of the Moon, the largest crater belongs to the Bayi crater (287 km).
- Where is the “far away kingdom, thirtieth state” familiar from children’s fairy tales located?? By simple calculations we get 3*9=27, 3*10=30. The first number is the sidereal period of the Moon's revolution around the Earth. 30 days is its synodic period (relative to the Sun).
- The Moon is moving away from the Earth by 4 cm per year. As a result, its orbit is not a circle, but a smoothly increasing spiral.
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Perhaps every person has looked at the Moon at least once in his life.
And even schoolchildren know certain facts about it. We have collected for our readers less well-known, but no less interesting facts about the satellite of our planet.
1. The moon was created as a result of a collision
The moon appeared as a result of a collision. Scientists believe that the Moon was formed from debris from the Earth and a space object the size of Mars after their collision.
2. 206 thousand 264 Moons
In order for it to be as light at night as during the day, about three hundred thousand moons would be needed, and 206 thousand 264 moons would have to be in the full moon phase.
3. People always see the same side of the moon
People always see the same side of the Moon. The Earth's gravitational field slows down the Moon's rotation around its axis. Therefore, the rotation of the Moon around its axis occurs in the same time as its rotation around the Earth.
4. The far side of the moon
The far side of the Moon is more mountainous compared to the one visible from Earth. This is explained by the force of gravity of the Earth, which has led to a thinner crust on the side facing our planet.
5. Moon Tree Seeds
More than 400 trees growing on Earth were brought from the Moon. The seeds of these trees were taken by the crew of Apollo 14 in 1971, orbited the Moon and returned to Earth.
6. Asteroid Cruithney
The Earth may have other natural satellites. The Cruithney asteroid moves in orbital resonance with the Earth and completes a full revolution around the planet every 770 years.
7. Craters on the surface of the Moon
Craters on the surface of the Moon were left by meteorites 4.1 - 3.8 billion years ago. They are still visible only because, geologically, the Moon is not as active as the Earth.
8. There is water on the moon
There is water on the moon. The Earth satellite has no atmosphere, but does have frozen water in shadowed craters and beneath the soil surface.
9. The moon is not a perfect ball
The moon is not actually a perfect sphere. It is rather egg-shaped due to the influence of Earth's gravity. In addition, its center of mass is not in the center of the cosmic body, but approximately two kilometers away from the center.
10. Crater named...
The lunar craters were first named after famous scientists, artists and explorers, and later after the names of American and Russian cosmonauts.
11. Moonquakes
On the Earth's satellite there are... moonquakes. They are caused by the gravitational influence of the Earth. Their epicenter is located several kilometers below the surface of the Moon.
12. Exosphere
The moon has an atmosphere called the exosphere. It consists of helium, neon and argon.
13. Dancing Dust
There is dancing dust on the Moon. It hovers above the surface of the Moon (more intensely at sunrise or sunset). Dust particles rise upward due to electromagnetic forces.
The Earth's satellite is more like a planet. The Earth and Moon are a double planet system, similar to the Pluto + Charon system.
15. The moon causes the tides on Earth
The moon causes the ebb and flow of the tides on Earth. The Moon's gravitational pull affects our planet's oceans. The highest tides occur during a full or new moon.
In 1609, after the invention of the telescope, humanity was able to examine its space satellite in detail for the first time. Since then, the Moon is the most studied cosmic body, as well as the first one that a person managed to visit.
The first thing we have to figure out is what our satellite is? The answer is unexpected: although the Moon is considered a satellite, technically it is the same full-fledged planet as the Earth. It has large dimensions - 3476 kilometers across at the equator - and a mass of 7.347 × 10 22 kilograms; The Moon is only slightly inferior to the smallest planet in the Solar System. All this makes it a full participant in the Moon-Earth gravitational system.
Another such tandem is known in solar system, and Charon. Although the entire mass of our satellite is a little more than a hundredth of the mass of the Earth, the Moon does not orbit the Earth itself - they have a common center of mass. And the proximity of the satellite to us gives rise to another interesting effect, tidal locking. Because of it, the Moon always faces the same side towards the Earth.
Moreover, from the inside, the Moon is structured like a full-fledged planet - it has a crust, a mantle and even a core, and in the distant past there were volcanoes on it. However, nothing remains of the ancient landscapes - over the course of four and a half billion years of the Moon’s history, millions of tons of meteorites and asteroids fell on it, furrowing it, leaving craters. Some of the impacts were so strong that they tore through its crust all the way to its mantle. The pits from such collisions formed lunar maria, dark spots on the Moon that are easily visible from. Moreover, they are present exclusively on the visible side. Why? We will talk about this further.
Among cosmic bodies, the Moon influences the Earth the most - except, perhaps, the Sun. Lunar tides, which regularly raise water levels in the world's oceans, are the most obvious, but not the most powerful, impact of the satellite. Thus, gradually moving away from the Earth, the Moon slows down the rotation of the planet - a solar day has grown from the original 5 to the modern 24 hours. The satellite also serves as a natural barrier against hundreds of meteorites and asteroids, intercepting them as they approach the Earth.
And without a doubt, the Moon is a tasty object for astronomers: both amateurs and professionals. Although the distance to the Moon has been measured to within a meter using laser technology, and soil samples from it have been brought back to Earth many times, there is still room for discovery. For example, scientists are hunting for lunar anomalies - mysterious flashes and lights on the surface of the Moon, not all of which have an explanation. It turns out that our satellite hides much more than is visible on the surface - let's understand the secrets of the Moon together!
Topographic map of the Moon
Characteristics of the Moon
Scientific study of the Moon today is more than 2200 years old. The movement of a satellite in the Earth's sky, phases and distance from it to the Earth were described in detail by the ancient Greeks - and internal structure The moon and its history are studied to this day by spacecraft. Nevertheless, centuries of work by philosophers, and then physicists and mathematicians, have provided very accurate data about how our Moon looks and moves, and why it is the way it is. All information about the satellite can be divided into several categories that flow from each other.
Orbital characteristics of the Moon
How does the Moon move around the Earth? If our planet were stationary, the satellite would rotate in an almost perfect circle, from time to time slightly approaching and moving away from the planet. But the Earth itself is around the Sun - the Moon has to constantly “catch up” with the planet. And our Earth is not the only body with which our satellite interacts. The Sun, located 390 times farther than the Earth from the Moon, is 333 thousand times more massive than the Earth. And even taking into account the inverse square law, according to which the intensity of any energy source drops sharply with distance, the Sun attracts the Moon 2.2 times stronger than the Earth!
That's why final trajectory The movement of our satellite resembles a spiral, and a complicated one at that. The axis of the lunar orbit fluctuates, the Moon itself periodically approaches and moves away, and on a global scale it even flies away from the Earth. These same fluctuations lead to the fact that the visible side of the Moon is not the same hemisphere of the satellite, but its different parts, which alternately turn towards the Earth due to the “swaying” of the satellite in orbit. These movements of the Moon in longitude and latitude are called librations, and allow us to look beyond the far side of our satellite long before the first flyby by spacecraft. From east to west, the Moon rotates 7.5 degrees, and from north to south - 6.5. Therefore, both poles of the Moon can be easily seen from Earth.
Specific orbital characteristics Moons are useful not only to astronomers and cosmonauts - for example, photographers especially value the supermoon: the phase of the Moon in which it reaches its maximum size. This is a full moon during which the Moon is at perigee. Here are the main parameters of our satellite:
- The Moon's orbit is elliptical, its deviation from a perfect circle is about 0.049. Taking into account orbital fluctuations, the minimum distance of the satellite to the Earth (perigee) is 362 thousand kilometers, and the maximum (apogee) is 405 thousand kilometers.
- The common center of mass of the Earth and the Moon is located 4.5 thousand kilometers from the center of the Earth.
- Sidereal month - complete walkthrough The moon's orbit takes 27.3 days. However, for a complete revolution around the Earth and a change in lunar phases, it takes 2.2 days more - after all, during the time that the Moon moves in its orbit, the Earth flies a thirteenth part of its own orbit around the Sun!
- The Moon is tidally locked into the Earth - it rotates on its axis at the same speed as around the Earth. Because of this, the Moon is constantly turned to the Earth with the same side. This condition is typical for satellites that are very close to the planet.
- Night and day on the Moon are very long - half the length of an earthly month.
- During those periods when the Moon comes out from behind the globe, it is visible in the sky - the shadow of our planet gradually slides off the satellite, allowing the Sun to illuminate it, and then covers it back. Changes in the illumination of the Moon, visible from the Earth, are called ee. During the new moon, the satellite is not visible in the sky; during the young moon phase, its thin crescent appears, resembling the curl of the letter “P”; in the first quarter, the Moon is exactly half illuminated, and during the full moon it is most noticeable. Further phases - the second quarter and the old moon - occur in the reverse order.
Interesting fact: since the lunar month is shorter than the calendar month, sometimes there can be two full moons in one month - the second is called a “blue moon”. It is as bright as an ordinary light - it illuminates the Earth by 0.25 lux (for example, ordinary lighting inside a house is 50 lux). The Earth itself illuminates the Moon 64 times stronger - as much as 16 lux. Of course, all the light is not our own, but reflected sunlight.
- The Moon's orbit is inclined to the Earth's orbital plane and regularly crosses it. The satellite's inclination is constantly changing, varying between 4.5° and 5.3°. It takes more than 18 years for the Moon to change its inclination.
- The Moon moves around the Earth at a speed of 1.02 km/s. This is much less than the speed of the Earth around the Sun - 29.7 km/s. The maximum speed of the spacecraft achieved by the Helios-B solar probe was 66 kilometers per second.
Physical parameters of the Moon and its composition
It took people a long time to understand how big the Moon is and what it consists of. Only in 1753, the scientist R. Bošković was able to prove that the Moon does not have a significant atmosphere, as well as liquid seas - when covered by the Moon, the stars disappear instantly, when their presence would make it possible to observe their gradual “attenuation”. It took another 200 years for the Soviet station Luna 13 to measure the mechanical properties of the lunar surface in 1966. And nothing was known at all about the far side of the Moon until 1959, when the Luna-3 apparatus was able to take its first photographs.
The Apollo 11 spacecraft crew returned the first samples to the surface in 1969. They also became the first people to visit the Moon - until 1972, 6 ships landed on it and 12 astronauts landed. The reliability of these flights was often doubted - however, many of the critics' points were based on their ignorance of space affairs. The American flag, which, according to conspiracy theorists, “could not have flown in the airless space of the Moon,” is in fact solid and static - it was specially reinforced with solid threads. This was done specifically in order to take beautiful pictures - a sagging canvas is not so spectacular.
Many distortions of colors and relief shapes in the reflections on the helmets of the spacesuits in which counterfeits were sought were due to gold plating on the glass, which protected against ultraviolet. Soviet cosmonauts who watched the live broadcast of the astronaut landing also confirmed the authenticity of what was happening. And who can deceive an expert in his field?
And complete geological and topographic maps of our satellite are compiled to this day. In 2009, the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) space station not only delivered the most detailed images of the Moon in history, but also proved the presence of large quantity frozen water. He also put an end to the debate about whether people were on the Moon by filming traces of the activities of the Apollo team from low lunar orbit. The device was equipped with equipment from several countries, including Russia.
Since new space states like China and private companies are joining the lunar exploration, new data is arriving every day. We have collected the main parameters of our satellite:
- The surface area of the Moon occupies 37.9x10 6 square kilometers - about 0.07% of the total area of the Earth. Incredibly, this is only 20% greater than the area of all human-inhabited areas on our planet!
- The average density of the Moon is 3.4 g/cm 3 . It is 40% less than the density of the Earth - primarily due to the fact that the satellite is devoid of many heavy elements like iron, which our planet is rich in. In addition, 2% of the Moon's mass is regolith - small crumbs of rock created by cosmic erosion and meteorite impacts, the density of which is lower than normal rock. Its thickness in some places reaches tens of meters!
- Everyone knows that the Moon is much smaller than the Earth, which affects its gravity. Acceleration free fall it is 1.63 m/s 2 - only 16.5 percent of the total gravitational force of the Earth. The astronauts' jumps on the Moon were very high, even though their spacesuits weighed 35.4 kilograms - almost like knight's armor! At the same time, they were still holding back: a fall in a vacuum was quite dangerous. Below is a video of the astronaut jumping from the live broadcast.
- Lunar maria cover about 17% of the entire Moon - mostly its visible side, which is almost a third covered with them. They are traces of impacts from particularly heavy meteorites, which literally tore the crust off the satellite. In these places, only a thin, half-kilometer layer of solidified lava—basalt—separates the surface from the lunar mantle. Since closer to the center of any large cosmic body the concentration solids is growing, there is more metal in the lunar seas than anywhere else on the Moon.
- The main form of relief of the Moon is craters and other derivatives from impacts and shock waves, which are steroids. Huge lunar mountains and circuses were built and changed the structure of the surface of the Moon beyond recognition. Their role was especially strong at the beginning of the history of the Moon, when it was still liquid - the falls raised whole waves of molten stone. This also caused the formation of lunar seas: the side facing the Earth was hotter due to the concentration of heavy substances in it, which is why asteroids affected it more strongly than the cool back side. The reason for this uneven distribution of matter was the gravity of the Earth, which was especially strong at the beginning of the Moon’s history, when it was closer.
- In addition to craters, mountains and seas, there are caves and cracks in the moon - surviving witnesses of the times when the bowels of the Moon were as hot as , and volcanoes were active on it. These caves often contain water ice, like the craters at the poles, which is why they are often considered as sites for future lunar bases.
- The real color of the Moon's surface is very dark, closer to black. All over the Moon there are the most different colors- from turquoise blue to almost orange. The light gray tint of the Moon from the Earth and in the photographs is due to the high illumination of the Moon by the Sun. Due to its dark color, the surface of the satellite reflects only 12% of all rays falling from our star. If the Moon were brighter, during full moons it would be as bright as day.
How was the Moon formed?
The study of lunar minerals and its history is one of the most difficult disciplines for scientists. The surface of the Moon is open to cosmic rays, and there is nothing to retain heat at the surface - therefore, the satellite heats up to 105 ° C during the day, and cools down to –150 ° C at night. The two-week duration of day and night increases the effect on the surface - and as a result, the minerals of the Moon change beyond recognition with time. However, we managed to find out something.
Today it is believed that the Moon is the product of a collision between a large embryonic planet, Theia, and the Earth, which occurred billions of years ago when our planet was completely molten. Part of the planet that collided with us (and it was the size of ) was absorbed - but its core, along with part of the surface matter of the Earth, was thrown into orbit by inertia, where it remained in the form of the Moon.
This is proven by the deficiency of iron and other metals on the Moon, already mentioned above - by the time Theia tore out a piece of earthly matter, most of the heavy elements of our planet were drawn by gravity inward, to the core. This collision affected further development The Earth - it began to rotate faster, and its axis of rotation tilted, which made the change of seasons possible.
Then the Moon developed like an ordinary planet - it formed an iron core, mantle, crust, lithospheric plates and even its own atmosphere. However, the low mass and composition poor in heavy elements led to the fact that the interior of our satellite quickly cooled, and the atmosphere evaporated from the high temperature and lack of a magnetic field. However, some processes inside still occur - due to movements in the lithosphere of the Moon, moonquakes sometimes occur. They represent one of the main dangers for future colonizers of the Moon: their scale reaches 5.5 points on the Richter scale, and they last much longer than those on Earth - there is no ocean capable of absorbing the impulse of the movement of the Earth’s interior.
Basic chemical elements on the Moon - these are silicon, aluminum, calcium and magnesium. The minerals that form these elements are similar to those on Earth and are even found on our planet. However, the main difference between the minerals of the Moon is the absence of exposure to water and oxygen produced by living beings, a high proportion of meteorite impurities and traces of the effects of cosmic radiation. Ozone layer The Earth was formed long ago, and the atmosphere is burning most masses of falling meteorites, allowing water and gases to slowly but surely change the appearance of our planet.
Future of the Moon
The Moon is the first cosmic body after Mars that claims priority for human colonization. In a sense, the Moon has already been mastered - the USSR and the USA left state regalia on the satellite, and orbital radio telescopes are hiding behind the far side of the Moon from the Earth, a generator of a lot of interference on the air. However, what does the future hold for our satellite?
The main process, which has already been mentioned more than once in the article, is the moving away of the Moon due to tidal acceleration. It happens quite slowly - the satellite moves away no more than 0.5 centimeters per year. However, something completely different is important here. Moving away from the Earth, the Moon slows down its rotation. Sooner or later, a moment may come when a day on Earth will last as long as a lunar month - 29–30 days.
However, the removal of the Moon will have its limit. After reaching it, the Moon will begin to approach the Earth in turns - and much faster than it was moving away. However, it will not be possible to completely crash into it. 12–20 thousand kilometers from the Earth, its Roche lobe begins - the gravitational limit at which a satellite of a planet can maintain a solid shape. Therefore, the Moon will be torn into millions of small fragments as it approaches. Some of them will fall to Earth, causing a bombardment thousands of times more powerful than nuclear, and the rest will form a ring around the planet like . However, it will not be so bright - rings gas giants consist of ice, which is many times brighter than the dark rocks of the Moon - they will not always be visible in the sky. The ring of the Earth will create a problem for astronomers of the future - if, of course, by that time there is anyone left on the planet.
Colonization of the Moon
However, all this will happen in billions of years. Until then, humanity views the Moon as the first potential object for space colonization. However, what exactly is meant by “lunar exploration”? Now we will look at the immediate prospects together.
Many people think of space colonization as similar to New Age colonization of Earth - finding valuable resources, extracting them, and then bringing them back home. However, this does not apply to space - in the next couple of hundred years, delivering a kilogram of gold even from the nearest asteroid will cost more than extracting it from the most complex and dangerous mines. Also, the Moon is unlikely to act as a “dacha sector of the Earth” in the near future - although there are large deposits of valuable resources there, it will be difficult to grow food there.
But our satellite may well become a base for further space exploration in promising directions- for example, the same Mars. The main problem of astronautics today is restrictions on the weight of spacecraft. To launch, you have to build monstrous structures that require tons of fuel - after all, you need to overcome not only the gravity of the Earth, but also the atmosphere! And if this is an interplanetary ship, then it also needs to be refueled. This seriously constrains designers, forcing them to choose economy over functionality.
The moon is much better suited as a launch pad for spaceships. The lack of an atmosphere and low speed to overcome the Moon's gravity - 2.38 km/s versus 11.2 km/s on Earth - make launches much easier. And the satellite's mineral deposits make it possible to save on the weight of fuel - a stone around the neck of astronautics, which occupies a significant proportion of the mass of any apparatus. If the production of rocket fuel were developed on the Moon, it would be possible to launch large and complex spacecraft assembled from parts delivered from Earth. And assembly on the Moon will be much easier than in low-Earth orbit - and much more reliable.
The technologies existing today make it possible, if not completely, then partially to implement this project. However, any steps in this direction require risk. The investment of huge amounts of money will require research for the necessary minerals, as well as the development, delivery and testing of modules for future lunar bases. And the estimated cost of launching even the initial elements alone can ruin an entire superpower!
Therefore, the colonization of the Moon is not so much the work of scientists and engineers, but of the people of the whole world to achieve such valuable unity. For in the unity of humanity lies the true strength of the Earth.
It has haunted human minds since the beginning of time. And even today, in the era of progress, you can find many outlandish stories and statements about the Moon on the Internet. They range from fantastical conspiracy theories to truly strange anomalies that scientists cannot yet explain.
1. The size and orbit of the Moon are ideal
There have been several total eclipses of the Sun by the Moon over the past few years. In fact, the fact that people can observe such a phenomenon is a real miracle. It has long been known that the Moon is the only satellite that allows us to observe full eclipse from the surface of the planet. In the case of the Earth, this all has to do with the relative sizes of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth's distance from them. The Moon is about one-quarter the size of Earth. And now for the weird stuff. The diameter of the Moon is approximately 400 times smaller than the diameter of the Sun. But the Moon is also 400 times closer to Earth than the Sun. Also, the Moon has a perfect circular orbit around the Earth, unlike all other known satellites. This creates the impression that the Moon and the Sun are the same size in the sky. Although this is most likely a coincidence, the odds are several million to one. Conspiracy theorists never tire of proving that the reason for this is simple: the Moon is an “artificial object”, and its dimensions and orbit are precisely calibrated.
2. Hollow Moon?
Carl Sagan stated in his book Intelligent Life in the Universe in 1966 that a planet's natural satellite could not be hollow. Most agreed with him. So scientists were shocked when seismic equipment on the Moon recorded significant reverberations on November 20, 1969, after the Apollo 12 lunar module landed on the lunar surface. Not only did the moon “ring like a bell,” it did so for over an hour. If you believe the data, this suggests that the Moon is hollow. During the next mission, the reverberation was measured again. This time the effect was even greater, and the “ringing” lasted more than three hours. Despite speculation that the Moon may indeed be hollow, based on NASA's own experiments, the results were largely suppressed by NASA in subsequent years.
3. Strange craters
The Moon is literally dotted with craters that formed over the billions of years of its existence. Oddly enough, these craters are the same in depth. According to what scientists know today, these craters should vary greatly in depth, but on the Moon this is not the case. Most agree that this is simply an anomaly, but some argue that the Moon is artificial or hollow, and consider these craters to be proof of their theory. Allegedly, under the rocky lunar surface there is an “inner shell” consisting of some kind of metallic material that can absorb impacts and distribute them evenly across the entire surface, thereby preventing the appearance of deep craters. According to some, this shell also prevents damage to whatever may lie underneath.
4. Artificial structures of the Moon
NASA says "man-made" structures on the Moon are optical illusions in most cases, and the result of blurry, low-quality images in other cases. However, enthusiastic UFO enthusiasts claim that these images are irrefutable evidence of alien and man-made structures on the Moon. Even in a couple of minutes on the Internet you can find a bunch of similar photos, some of which are quite convincing. But reliable evidence, of course, is not enough. One of these anomalies is called "Shrapnel" and can be found in NASA photographs. In the photo you can see an artificial structure rising above the surface. The fact that it casts a shadow causes many UFO researchers to dismiss the idea of an optical illusion. Interestingly, a relatively short distance away is another alleged "Tower" structure, estimated to be around 11 kilometers tall.
5. Is the moon artificially placed in orbit?
There is no doubt that life on Earth will change dramatically without the Moon. For people it may even become impossible. The Moon stabilizes Earth's oceans and polar regions of the planet, which creates seasons that allow most areas of the planet and life on it to flourish. However, many ancient writings appear to describe a time before the moon appeared in Earth's skies. Some believe that the Moon is an artificial structure specifically placed in a precisely calculated orbit to stabilize conditions on Earth.
6. Alien intelligence base
If some unknown ancient civilization deliberately placed the Moon in Earth's orbit, the only logical assumption can be that an unearthly race did it. For example, controversial researcher and author David Icke argues that the Moon is artificial satellite, transmitting signals from Saturn to our planet and creating the “matrix” that is our reality.
7. Unique rotation of the Moon
Everyone has heard about the dark side of the Moon, which people have never seen. Many people think that the Moon always faces the Earth with one side because it does not rotate. But it would be more accurate to call this part of the Moon the "far side" since the Moon actually rotates. The Moon makes a full circle around the Earth in 27.3 days, and it rotates around its axis in 27 days. This “synchronized rotation” causes one side of the Moon to always “move away” from our planet. Again, the Moon is unique in this compared to the moons of other planets. From the point of view of conspiracy theorists, this was done on purpose so that " dark side Moon" was an ideal place to create an alien base.
8. The Real Story of the Moon
Letters from Andromeda by Alex Collier. In his controversial and widely ridiculed book Letters from Andromeda, author and researcher Alex Collier claimed to have uncovered real story Moons. But the way he received his information alarmed people a little - the author allegedly received “telepathic messages” from an alien who lived in the Zeneta constellation. According to Collier, the Moon was actually huge spaceship, who arrived here millions of years ago. She brought "reptilians, human-reptilian hybrids, and the first humans to set foot on Earth." Collier claims that the Moon is empty and there are several secret entrances on the surface leading inside. Beneath the Moon's surface is a metallic shell that hides the remains of ancient alien bases left over from a huge war 113,000 years ago. Today these bases are occupied by a secret world government that worked together with an extraterrestrial race.
9. Pre-lunar history of the Earth
Many ancient scriptures speak of a time “before the moon.”
For example, Aristotle wrote about Arcadia, stating that the earth was inhabited "before there was a moon in the sky above the earth." Likewise, Apollonius of Rhodes spoke of a time “when not all the ‘balls’ were yet in heaven.” The Chibcha tribe of Colombia also have similar oral legends that begin with the words: “At the very early times, when the Moon was not yet in the heavens.” The Zulus have legends that claim that the Moon was “pulled” from an unimaginable distance.
10. Secret missions to the moon
Alex Collier isn't the only person who claims there are bases on the Moon. There have been numerous such claims over the past two decades, often purporting to come from anonymous sources who leaked secret documents to the public. One of the recent claims of a base on the Moon was made by Dr. Michael Salla, who is working with the Chinese space agency on a manned mission to the Moon. If successful, this will be the first appearance of a man on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Salla claims the base is part of an "extraterrestrial military-industrial complex." Even stranger are his comments that NASA actively bombed such bases as well as "ancient artifacts and objects" to conceal their existence. In addition, he stated that secret lunar exploration missions are being carried out by a "secret world government" that has entered into a secret treaty with an unknown extraterrestrial race.