International Festival “Stars of the New Century” - 2015

Natural sciences (from 8 to 10 years)

RESEARCH

“Is the Moon an artificial satellite of the Earth?”

Nesterov Alex, 8 years old

student at the Lego Studio

Head of work:

Teacher t/o: “Lego Studio”

MBU DO DT "Vector"

When I was still little, I really loved watching cartoons about space: “Astronomy for the little ones” by R. Sahakayants, an educational cartoon for children from 2 to 12 years old “Astronomy for the little ones” from the series “Entertaining Lessons”, “Educational cartoon about space for the little ones" project from Bibigon and others. These cartoons said that the Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth. And just recently, my mother and I watched a documentary that said that the Moon is not a natural satellite of the Earth. I was interested in what scientists say about this: is the Moon a natural satellite of the Earth or are there other assumptions.

Purpose of my research: Find out the opinions of different scientists who confirm that the Moon is not a natural satellite of the Earth.

Research problem: find out what assumptions scientists make about the Moon.

During the research it was put forward hypothesis:

That the Moon is not a natural satellite of the Earth if:

There are assumptions by modern scientists that the Moon is an artificial satellite of the Earth;

There are studies by modern scientists confirming that the Moon is some other object.

Subject of study: Moon.

Objects of research:

1. Scientific works about the Moon;

2. Documentaries about the Moon.

Is the Moon an artificial satellite of the Earth?

First guess.

Soviet scientists were the first to put forward a sensational version of the artificial origin of the Moon. Alexander Shcherbakov and Mikhail Vasin. In 1968, they published an article in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper entitled: “The Moon is an artificial satellite.” Shcherbakov and Vasin declared to the entire Soviet Union that the Moon has hollow structure inside. And this design was created by a civilization unknown to us. It is simply impossible to explain all the oddities of the earth’s satellite otherwise.

The hypothesis of Soviet scientists that the Moon is an artificial celestial body was treated with great suspicion for a long time. But the results of geological research in different years have confirmed that the Moon may indeed be hollow. And life there may not be outside, but inside. This was discovered thanks to a simple experiment. During the next lunar mission, a spent rocket stage was dropped onto an earthly satellite, and then, with the help of special probes, the seismic activity of the lunar surface was monitored. Astronomers wanted to measure the amplitude of the explosion and the diameter of the crater in order to calculate the density of the soil. But what a surprise it was when the Moon began to hum like a bell.

Astronomer Vladimir Koval says: “The steps fell, then they recorded the impacts of meteorites on the surface of the Moon. And the strange thing was that the Moon hummed like a bell for a long time. This long hum indicated that the Moon was empty; that the surface of the Moon is armor, under which is hidden a spaceship on which someone flew to us and left" As Dr. Thomas Paine(Director of NASA, the space research center of that time): “The moon was buzzing like a bell. The residual sound of the Moon lasted up to 2 hours!”

But if the hypothesis of M. Vasin and A. Shcherbakov that the inhabitants of the Moon live under its surface, having an artificial atmosphere there, is correct, then it is logical to assume that ventilation devices will be required for the release of excess or exhaust gas, and that during such emissions the appearance the lunar surface will be distorted. (Remember the haze over the hot asphalt on a summer day or the trembling air over a blazing fire).

And indeed, among tens of thousands of photographs of the lunar surface, a very large percentage consists of just such “nebulae and blurriness.”

Second guess.

On June 19, 2009, the Atlas V launch vehicle launches from the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral (USA). On board the rocket is the Elcros space probe, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for studying the Moon. 3 days after launch, the Elcros probe reaches lunar orbit. Along it, it makes 2 complete revolutions around the Earth. After which Elkros launches a rocket to the Moon. Centauri rocket. It weighs 500 tons. The impact falls on the very center of the lunar crater Cadeus. A powerful explosion occurs. The blast wave raises a multi-kilometer cloud of dust to the surface. These are deep minerals from the depths of the Moon. In 4 minutes the Elcros research probe will arrive. It will plunge straight into a cloud of lunar dust. Will measure radiation levels and take samples of microparticles. Thanks to the latest technology, the space probe will conduct instant chemical analysis of these microparticles. The results obtained will be sent to Earth. These data shocked scientists. Now scientists are almost sure that the Moon is an artificial celestial body. But who created it, when, and most importantly, why, all this remains to be known to humanity.

On October 9, 2009, the Elkros probe sent a detailed report on the composition of the lunar soil. From this report it follows that in the depths of the Moon there are huge quantities of mercury, silver, hydrogen, but, most importantly, there is water there. Its parts are present in a frozen state in all samples of lunar dust raised from the depths of the Cadeus crater. NASA experts have calculated that the depths of the Moon contain at least 10% water. This amount is sufficient for a person to live autonomously on the Moon. After all, this water can be easily converted into steam using special equipment, and in return receive energy, and most importantly, oxygen.

Professor of Biological Sciences at Brown University Alberto Saal states that the crystals that are clearly visible in the rock are water crystals. Moreover, Alberto Saal calculated that there is a hundred times more frozen water in the lunar soil than on Earth. If you melted all the water in the lunar crater Cadeus, the volume would be greater than that in the great lakes of North America combined.

Third guess.

After all, the Moon is not like any natural celestial body. The Moon is the only satellite in the solar system that revolves around its planet, that is, around the Earth, in a perfectly regular circle. All other satellites of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have elliptical orbits. In addition, the period of rotation of the Moon around its own axis completely coincides with the period of its revolution around our planet. That is why only one side of the Moon is always visible from the Earth; what happens on the far side of the Moon is never visible.

Candidate of Technical Sciences Gennady Zadneprovsky believes that the rotation of the Moon around its axis coincides with exceptional accuracy with the time of its revolution around the Earth. Therefore, we observe only 59% of the surface of the Moon, and the rest is hidden from the eyes of earthlings. To bring the rotation of the Moon around its axis to such extreme precision so that it is always on one side to the Moon - this simply goes beyond the most fantastic assumptions about the natural origin of our satellite.

Gennady Zadneprovsky:« If there were no Moon, the Earth would rotate at great speed. And our day would be about 6 hours. This high rotation speed and instability of the Earth’s behavior would lead to the fact that our winters and summers would be very harsh. Practically unacceptable for the development of biological life forms. Therefore, the gravitational state of the Earth-Moon complex plays an extraordinary role for many aspects of the evolution of life on Earth».

Fourth guess.

There is another anomaly of the Moon: how is it that the Moon has the right size, which sometimes allows it to completely cover the Sun. This occurs at a precise frequency of 63 times every 100 years during solar eclipses. After all, if the Moon had a slightly smaller diameter, it would cover half or a third of the solar disk. In addition, for solar eclipses to occur, the Moon must be at a precisely calculated distance from the Earth. If the Moon had been positioned a little further away, it would never have been able to eclipse the Sun at the right moment. But the most surprising thing is that there is no astronomical evidence of such strange behavior of our satellite. Neither gravity, nor the magnetic field, nor cosmic rays and solar winds could influence this. In addition, the satellite of other planets is not capable of eclipsing the sun. Only our planet Earth can boast of such an amazing astronomical phenomenon. It turns out that either this was an accident, or someone specially positioned the Moon this way.

Fifth guess.

It turns out that the Moon can indeed be a complex technological structure. If the Earth’s satellite is, indeed, hollow inside, then according to the laws of physics it should have collapsed long ago. With the density that the Moon has, this natural satellite would have shattered into pieces under the influence of the Earth’s gravity and its own centrifugal force. But this doesn't happen. Why? Experts believe that this is only possible in one case, if the earth’s satellite is supported from the inside by some kind of supporting structure or frame that can withstand any load.

Also Gennady Zadneprovsky suggests that there are huge craters on the Moon with a diameter of 120 km. The interesting thing is that the depth of these craters is 3-4 km. But with the impact of such a meteorite capable of creating such a huge crater, the depth would have to be at least 50 km. And the fact that the depth is small indicates that the Moon is an extremely rigid body, that is, it has an internal frame presumably made of titanium, which ensures the stability of the Moon and its strength during impact collisions.

Academician, author of fundamental works on physics, biology, history Nikolay Levashov in his interview he claims that the Moon is an artificial object. Why? Because all craters on the Moon, regardless of their diameter, are the same depth. Everyone knows that a small bomb fell - a small crater, the larger the bomb, the larger the diameter and deeper. Meteorites are super bombs. When a meteorite falls with great speed, a powerful explosion occurs. And it should be the diameter and depth of the funnel proportional to the size this meteorite. There are colossal craters on the Moon with a diameter of up to 10 km, and the depth is the same for all of them. This suggests that at depth, a meteorite or other object collides with matter beyond which it cannot pass. Is there such a natural material? No.

But if the Moon really is an artificial satellite of the Earth, then how, when and, most importantly, who launched it into Earth orbit. After all, according to scientists’ calculations, the approximate age of the Moon is no less than 4.5 billion years. At this time, our civilization had not yet begun to emerge. In addition, there were no conditions for life on Earth at that time. However, some researchers do not agree with this version. They believe that it is quite possible that a terrible catastrophe occurred on our planet 4.5 billion years ago. And before her, there was not just life on the planet, the Earth was a blooming garden. Only it is inhabited by another, unknown to us, supercivilization. And it is quite possible that representatives of that civilization actively explored space and flew to distant planets. If this is so, then the artificial satellite - the Moon could serve as a transshipment and testing base for space technology.

Approves Gennady Zadneprovsky: « Of course, there are giant complexes on the Moon, the remains of which are visible in images taken by spacecraft. These giant complexes are industrial, ranging in size from 4 to 5 km. Plus a system of tunnels that penetrates the surface of the Moon. And, apparently, most of these industrial complexes are concentrated in huge cavities, or in a hollow part, in the hollow center of the Moon».

Sixth guess.

Nikolay Levashov testifies: “... In the video you can see a spaceship take off from the north pole of the Moon, fly around the Moon very quickly and enter the south pole of the Moon. Through what? So there is a passage to the Moon there? Came in and didn't show up again».

President of the Foundation for Temporal Research, Analysis and Forecast Pavel Sviridov records that, most likely, this is some kind of base that operates close to us and is a very convenient point for observing the development of human civilization.

It’s almost incredible, but archaeologists around the world are still finding evidence that there really was such a supercivilization, capable of building spaceships and launching artificial satellites on Earth.

Confirming that the Moon, indeed, could have previously housed bases and testing grounds for space technology, photographs of the lunar surface clearly show strange architectural ensembles. Many experts believe that these lunar cities could not have formed naturally. Neither comet impacts, nor lunar winds, nor even a giant asteroid are capable of creating such complex patterns.

Scientist Karl Wolf proves that some lunar buildings are clearly reflected by the reflective coating, others reminded me of water-cooling towers, some buildings were very tall and straight with a flat roof, others, on the contrary, low with a round roof, some looked like domes, some like greenhouses.”

American astronomers have discovered new geological faults on the Moon. In other words, its surface appears to be moving. Moreover, only individual lithospheric plates move. At first they seem to move away, and then return to their original place back with an accuracy of a millimeter. One gets the feeling that the moving plates are the complex mechanisms of a huge spaceship. Researchers are confident that this may indicate that the Moon is an artificial body, inside of which there should be intelligent life. Researchers suggest that the outer shell of the Moon is similar to the skin of a spaceship.

Anomalous Phenomenon Researcher Yuri Senkin believes: " It is quite possible that this is an inhabited spacecraft of enormous size, and it was created only for certain conditions: for the evacuation of all creatures from planet Earth, like into an ark, or a huge laboratory and base».

During my research, it was confirmed that there are assumptions by many scientists, researchers and specialists that the Moon is an artificial satellite of the Earth, a huge spaceship with laboratories and bases inside, a transport transfer station for flights to other planets, an ark in the event of evacuation from Earth. Therefore, the hypothesis has been confirmed that the Moon is not a natural satellite of the Earth.

List of Internet resources:

1. Website “Earth. Chronicles of Life". Article "Mysteries of the Moon - facts, anomalies, secrets of the Earth's satellite." - 2015 (http://earth-chronicles.ru/news/2012-12-18-36370)

2. Website “Earth. Chronicles of Life". Article "Unsolved mysteries of the Moon." - 2015 (http://earth-chronicles.ru/news/2013-02-18-39545)

3. “Sedition” website. Article “The Moon is an artificial satellite of the Earth.” – 2014 (http://www.kramola.info/vesti/kosmos/luna-iskusstvennyj-sputnik-zemli)

4. Video material “Space Stories Day. Born on the Moon." – 2012 (http://www./watch? v=68z5e8Rt2xQ)

5. Video material “The Moon is an artificial satellite of the Earth.” – 2013 (http://www./watch? v=8Y0bQJAU6LE)

1. Problems of lunar exploration

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Currently, several promising lunar projects are being developed.

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Space debris

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Mathematical modeling of space systems

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26.03.2015 15:05

View document contents
"research work on the topic. Earth's satellite-Moon"

MKU "Education Department of the Biysk City Administration"

MBOU "Secondary school No. 12 with in-depth study of individual subjects"

"Earth's satellite - the Moon"

Case study

I've done the work: Tyryshev Artyom,

student of 2nd grade

MBOU "Secondary school No. 12 with UIOP"

Supervisor: Larina Irina

Anatolyevna, teacher

primary classes

MBOU "Secondary School No. 12 with UIOP"

INTRODUCTION

MAIN PART

Earth and Moon in comparison

The influence of the Moon on the Earth

OBSERVATION DIARIES.

Moon calendar

(Attachment: Research Paper Presentation)

IV CONCLUSIONS FROM OBSERVATIONS

V LIST OF REFERENCES USED

INTRODUCTION

I have always been fascinated by the topic of space. I always liked watching educational TV programs about stars and planets. My parents often read books and magazines to me, which clearly explain information about various space objects.

I chose the Moon as the topic of my research, since it is the earth’s satellite and the celestial body closest to our planet. The Moon seems big to me, although its size is 80 times smaller than the size of the Earth. Looking through a telescope, I can see its surface in detail.

We put forward the following hypothesis:

If the Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth, then can it be explored by observing the lunar phases through a telescope?

Relevance of the selected topic is that children are most susceptible to the influence of the Moon, especially during the full moon.

Purpose of the study:

Job objectives:

Learn as many facts as possible about the Moon and its influence on the Earth.

Observe changes in the Moon during the lunar month using a telescope.

Methods:

Search – collecting information on a topic.

Comparison – Moon compared to Earth

Practical work - observing the Moon using a telescope.

Using computer technology - creating a presentation.

Before starting to study the Moon, I was interested in how the Moon affects people, including me. I will try to study and examine the Moon in more detail through a telescope. It's so exciting!

MAIN PART

The Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth

If the month is letter "C",

So it's an old month;

If the wand is in addition

You will attach it to him

And you will receive the letter "R"

So he's growing

So, soon, believe it or not,

He will become fat.

It circles around the Earth, and each circle takes 28 Earth days. The moon itself does not glow. We see only the side of it that is illuminated by the Sun. It is for this reason that it appears to us either as a full disk or as a narrow crescent. The distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,400 km; if a person went on a trip to the Moon on foot, he would walk for 9 years.

If you look at the Moon from our planet, you can easily discern dark spots on it. These are large plains covered with petrified lava, which are called "seas". These “seas” have beautiful names: Sea of ​​Clarity, Sea of ​​Tranquility, Sea of ​​Abundance. Irregularities on the surface of the earth's satellite are explained by the constant fall of meteorites on it. The Earth is protected from such “shelling” by its atmosphere, in which meteorites rushing at high speed simply burn up. But the Moon does not have an atmosphere, since this celestial body has a very small gravitational force.

In 1959, the Soviet Luna 3 station flew around the Moon for the first time and photographed the far side of the satellite, on which there were almost no seas. In 1966, the first Luna 9 landing on the Moon took place.

Earth and Moon in comparison

Earth is a planet in the solar system, the third planet from the sun.

The Moon is a planet in the solar system, a satellite of the Earth.

The age of the Earth is 4 billion 540 million years.

The Moon is 13 million years younger than the Earth.

The Moon is 4 times smaller and 80 times lighter than the Earth.

The Earth has an atmosphere. The layers of the Earth's atmosphere reliably protect the planet from the influence of space.

The Moon has no atmosphere. There is no atmosphere on the Moon, it is not protected in any way from the effects of space, so the entire surface of the planet is covered with craters.

There is a force of gravity on Earth.

The Moon also has a gravitational force, but it is 6 times less than on Earth.

There is air and water on Earth. Life exists on Earth.

There is no air or water on the Moon. There is no life on the Moon.

The influence of the Moon on the Earth

The Moon's gravity affects the Earth, creating tides.

The Moon attracts water in the oceans so that there are two “water humps”: rotating around the Earth, the Moon pulls these water “humps” along with it.

OBSERVATION DIARIES

I used my telescope to observe.

I started my observation in October and observed the 4 phases of the moon.

New moon

The new moon phase was observed from October 24 to October 29, 2014. At the moment of the new moon, the Moon appears between the Earth and the Sun, the Sun illuminates the side of the Moon that is not visible to us. Therefore, from the Earth it seems that the Moon has disappeared.

Waxing Crescent

The waxing phase of the Moon was observed from October 29 to November 5, 2014. During the waxing phase, the Sun illuminates only part of the Moon - the crescent, turned like a circle of the letter P “growing”. Every day it increases, gradually turning into a semicircle.

Full moon

The full moon phase was observed from November 6 to November 12, 2014. At the moment of the full moon, the Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon. The Moon faces us and is fully illuminated by the Sun. We see a full circle.

Falling Moon

During the waning moon phase, the luminous circle gradually turns into a sickle, only now it is turned like the letter C “old”.

Lunar calendar for November 2014

Watching the Moon throughout November, I made a calendar.

date	Day weeks		Lunar day				Phase moon
	Sunday						Waxing Crescent
	Monday						Waxing Crescent
							Waxing Crescent
							Waxing Crescent
							Waxing Crescent
							Full moon
							Full moon
	Sunday						Full moon
	Monday						Full moon
							Full moon
							Full moon
							Full moon
							4th quarter
							4th quarter
	Sunday						4th quarter
	Monday						4th quarter
							4th quarter
							4th quarter
							4th quarter
							4th quarter
							New moon
	Sunday						Waxing Crescent
	Monday						Waxing Crescent
							Waxing Crescent
							Waxing Crescent
							Waxing Crescent
							Waxing Crescent
							1 quarter
	Sunday						1 quarter

OBSERVATIONS

Based on the results of my observations, I made the following conclusions:

It is better to play quiet games, listen to pleasant, soothing music; before going to bed, you should not run, scream, or play noisy games.

It is useful to walk more in the fresh air; it is best to take a quiet walk in the park, observing nature.

During the full moon, it is especially important to follow a daily routine, go to bed on time and be sure to ventilate the room before going to bed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

My first book about space. Popular science publication for children. - M.: ZAO “Rosmen-Press”, 2006.

Textbook for 1st grade. The world around us./A.A. Pleshakov. – M.: “Enlightenment”, 2007.

Great encyclopedia "Whychek". – M.: “Rosman”, 2002.

Magazine "The Adventures of Scooby-Doo" Flight to the Moon. No. 22 (127)/2008

I'm exploring the world: Children's encyclopedia: Space/Auth. – comp. T.I. Gontaruk. – M.: AST, 1995.

Astronomy and space/Scientific-pop. Edition for children. – M.: JSC “ROSMEN-PRESS”, 2008.

Internet sites: www.wikipedia.ru; www.redday.ru/moon; www.godsbay.ru; www.serenityqueen.narod.ru.

View presentation content
“Presentation of Artyom Tyryshev”

"Earth's satellite - the Moon"

/observing the lunar phases using a telescope

in October – November 2014/

research work:

1st grade student " G »

MBOU "Secondary school No. 12 with UIOP"

Tyryshev Artem

Supervisor:

Larina Irina

Anatolyevna, teacher

primary classes

MBOU "Secondary School No. 12 with UIOP"

Goal of the work:

Create a lunar calendar and develop rules of behavior for children during the full moon.

Hypothesis:

If the Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth, then can it be explored by observing the lunar phases through a telescope?

Job objectives:

• Learn as many facts as possible about the Moon and its influence on the Earth.

• Observe changes in the Moon during the lunar month using a telescope.

Methods:

• Search – collecting information on the topic.

• Comparison – Moon compared to Earth

• Practical work - observing the moon using a telescope.

Moon in myths ancient peoples

Ancient Rus'

Makosh- goddess of the moon. Mistress of water and mermaids.

Ancient Greece

Selena- goddess of the moon. Winged woman

in silver

Ancient Rome

Diana- goddess of the moon. Woman on

chariot, which

carried by horses

or nymphs.

Ancient Italy

Juno- goddess of the moon

and fertility. Patroness

all women.

• The first scientist to view the Moon through a telescope was Galileo Galilei.

• In 1610, using a telescope that he built himself, he discovered the lunar mountains, seas and craters.

XX century

• In 1959, the Soviet station Luna 3 orbited the Moon for the first time and photographed the far side of the satellite, where there were almost no seas.

• In 1966, the first Luna 9 landing on the Moon took place. .

The Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth

• The moon rotates around the Earth and around its axis.

• The Moon is always turned to the Earth with the same side; the other side of the Moon is not visible to us.

• The Moon itself does not shine; the glow that we see from the Earth is the reflected light of the Sun.

• The distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,400 km; if a person went on a trip to the Moon on foot, he would walk for 9 years.

Earth and Moon in comparison

Earth - a planet in the solar system, the third planet from the sun.

Moon - planet of the solar system, satellite of the Earth.

Age of the Earth – 4 billion 540 million years.

The moon is younger than the Earth for 13 million years.

Moon 4 times less and 80 times lighter than Earth .

Difference between the Moon and the Earth

On the ground

there is air

and water.

On the moon

there is no air or water.

There is life on Earth.

Life

on the moon

absent.

Satellites of the planets solar system

• Other planets in the solar system have many satellites.

• Our Moon is medium in size among them.

The influence of the Moon on the Earth

The Moon's gravity affects the Earth, creating tides.

The Moon attracts water in the oceans so that there are two “water humps”: rotating around the Earth, the Moon pulls these water “humps” along with it.

Moon phases

The Moon moves around the Earth, so it appears differently to us over the course of a calendar month depending on its position relative to the Earth and the Sun.

• I became interested in how the Moon changes and therefore decided to recreate a model of the Moon and Earth at home. For the experiment I used a globe, a lamp, and a ball.
• This is how I learned how the moon changes.

Observing the phases of the moon using a telescope

I used a telescope to observe

New moon

At the moment of the new moon, the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, the Sun illuminates the side of the Moon that is not visible to us. Therefore, from the Earth it seems that the Moon has disappeared.

Waxing Crescent

During the waxing phase, the Sun illuminates only part of the Moon - the crescent, turned like a circle of the letter P “growing”. Every day it increases, gradually turning into a semicircle.

Full moon

At the moment of the full moon, the Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon. The Moon faces us and is fully illuminated by the Sun. We see a full circle.

Falling Moon

During the waning moon phase, the luminous circle gradually turns into a sickle, only now it is turned like the letter C “old”.

• The Moon is a very convenient and interesting object to study, since it is the planet closest to Earth.

• The moon influences the Earth and all living beings that inhabit our planet.

• Children are most susceptible to the influence of the moon, especially during the full moon.

• On a full moon, it is not advisable to read scary books, for example about ghosts.
• It is better to play quiet games, listen to pleasant, soothing music; before going to bed, you should not run, scream, or play noisy games.
• It is not recommended to watch scary films or play computer games for a long time.
• It is useful to walk more in the fresh air; it is best to take a quiet walk in the park, observing nature.
• During the full moon, it is especially important to follow a daily routine, go to bed on time and be sure to ventilate the room before going to bed.

"The Moon - Natural Satellite of the Earth"

1. Introduction

2.1. Mythological history of the moon

2.2. Origin of the Moon

3.1. Lunar eclipses

3.2. Eclipses in former times

4.1. Moon Shape

4.2. Surface of the Moon

4.3. Relief of the lunar surface

4.4. Lunar soil.

4.5. Internal structure of the Moon

5.1. Moon phases.

5.2. A new stage in lunar exploration.

5.3. Magnetism of the Moon.

6.1. Tidal Power Research

7.1. Conclusion.

1. Introduction .

The Moon is the Earth's natural satellite and the brightest object in the night sky. On the Moon there is no atmosphere familiar to us, there are no rivers and lakes, vegetation and living organisms. The gravity on the Moon is six times less than on Earth. Day and night with temperature changes of up to 300 degrees last for two weeks. And yet, the Moon is increasingly attracting earthlings with the opportunity to use its unique conditions and resources.

The extraction of natural reserves on Earth becomes more difficult every year. According to scientists, in the near future humanity will enter a difficult period. The Earth's habitat will exhaust its resources, so it is now necessary to begin to develop the resources of other planets and satellites. The Moon, as the closest celestial body to us, will become the first object for extraterrestrial industrial production. The creation of a lunar base, and then a network of bases, is planned in the coming decades. Oxygen, hydrogen, iron, aluminum, titanium, silicon and other useful elements can be extracted from lunar rocks. Lunar soil is an excellent raw material for obtaining various building materials, as well as for extracting the helium-3 isotope, which is capable of providing Earth’s power plants with safe and environmentally friendly nuclear fuel. The moon will be used for unique scientific research and observations. By studying the lunar surface, scientists can “look” into a very ancient period of our own planet, since the peculiarities of the development of the Moon ensured the preservation of the surface topography for billions of years. In addition, the Moon will serve as an experimental base for testing space technologies, and in the future it will be used as a key transport hub for interplanetary communications.

The Moon, the only natural satellite of the Earth and the closest celestial body to us; the average distance to the Moon is 384,000 kilometers.

The Moon moves around the Earth at an average speed of 1.02 km/sec in a roughly elliptical orbit in the same direction in which the vast majority of other bodies in the Solar System move, that is, counterclockwise when looking at the Moon's orbit from the North Pole. The semimajor axis of the Moon's orbit, equal to the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon, is 384,400 km (approximately 60 Earth radii).

Since the mass of the Moon is relatively small, it has practically no dense gaseous shell - an atmosphere. Gases are freely dispersed in the surrounding space. Therefore, the surface of the Moon is illuminated by direct sunlight. The shadows from the uneven terrain here are very deep and black, since there is no diffused light. And the Sun will look much brighter from the lunar surface. The Moon's tenuous gas envelope of hydrogen, helium, neon and argon is ten trillion times less dense than our atmosphere, but a thousand times greater than the number of gas molecules in the vacuum of space. Since the Moon does not have a dense protective shell of gas, very large temperature changes occur on its surface during the day. Solar radiation is absorbed by the lunar surface, which weakly reflects light rays.

Due to the ellipticity of the orbit and disturbances, the distance to the Moon varies between 356,400 and 406,800 km. The period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth, the so-called sidereal (stellar) month, is 27.32166 days, but is subject to slight fluctuations and a very small secular reduction. The movement of the Moon around the Earth is very complex, and its study is one of the most difficult problems of celestial mechanics. Elliptical motion is only a rough approximation; many disturbances caused by the attraction of the Sun and planets are superimposed on it. The most important of these disturbances, or inequalities, were discovered from observations long before their theoretical derivation from the law of universal gravitation. The attraction of the Moon by the Sun is 2.2 times stronger than by the Earth, so, strictly speaking, one should consider the movement of the Moon around the Sun and the disturbance of this movement by the Earth. However, since the researcher is interested in the movement of the Moon as seen from the Earth, the gravitational theory, which was developed by many major scientists, starting with I. Newton, considers the movement of the Moon around the Earth. In the 20th century, they use the theory of the American mathematician J. Hill, on the basis of which the American astronomer E. Brown calculated (1919) mathematically the series and compiled tables containing the latitude, longitude and parallax of the Moon. The argument is time.

The plane of the Moon’s orbit is inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of 5*8”43”, subject to slight fluctuations. The points of intersection of the orbit with the ecliptic are called the ascending and descending nodes, have an uneven retrograde motion and make a full revolution along the ecliptic in 6794 days (about 18 years), as a result of which the Moon returns to the same node after an interval of time - the so-called draconic month, - shorter than the sidereal one and on average equal to 27.21222 days, the frequency of solar and lunar eclipses is associated with this month.

The Moon rotates around an axis inclined to the ecliptic plane at an angle of 88°28", with a period exactly equal to the sidereal month, as a result of which it is always turned to the Earth with the same side. However, the combination of uniform rotation with uneven orbital movement causes small periodic deviations from a constant direction to the Earth, reaching 7° 54" in longitude, and the inclination of the Moon's rotation axis to the plane of its orbit causes deviations of up to 6°50" in latitude, as a result of which up to 59% of the entire surface of the Moon can be seen from the Earth at different times (although areas near the edges of the lunar disk are visible only from a strong perspective); such deviations are called libration of the Moon. The planes of the Moon's equator, ecliptic and lunar orbit always intersect along one straight line (Cassini's law).

The movement of the Moon is divided into four lunar months.

29, 53059 days SYNODICAL (from the word synodion - meeting).

27, 55455 days ANOMALITIC (the angular distance of the Moon from its perigee was called an anomaly).

27 , 32166 days SIDERIC (siderium - starry)

27, 21222 days DRACONIC (orbital nodes are indicated by an icon that looks like a dragon).

Target: Find out as much as possible about the Earth's only natural satellite - the Moon. About its benefits and significance in people's lives about origin, history, movement, etc.

Tasks:

1. Learn about the history of the Moon.

2. Learn about lunar eclipses.

3. Learn about the structure of the Moon.

4. Learn about new lunar research.

5. Research work.

2.1. Mythological history of the Moon.

The moon in Roman mythology is the goddess of night light. The moon had several sanctuaries, one together with the sun god. In Egyptian mythology, the moon goddess Tefnut and her sister Shu, one of the incarnations of the solar principle, were twins. In Indo-European and Baltic mythology, the motif of the month courting the sun and their wedding is widespread: after the wedding, the month leaves the sun, for which the thunder god takes revenge on him and cuts the month in half. In another mythology, the month, who lived in the sky with his wife the sun, came to earth to see how people lived. On earth, the month was chased by Hosedem (an evil female mythological creature). The moon, hastily returning to the sun, only half managed to enter its chum. The sun grabbed him by one half, and Hosedem by the other and began to pull him in different directions until they tore him in half. The sun then tried to revive the month, which was left without the left half and thus without a heart, tried to make a heart for it from coal, rocked it in a cradle (a shamanic way of resurrecting a person), but everything was in vain. Then the sun commanded the month that it should shine at night with its remaining half. In Armenian mythology, Lusin (“moon”), a young man asked his mother, who was holding the dough, for a bun. The angry mother slapped Lusin in the face, from which he flew into the sky. Traces of the test are still visible on his face. According to popular beliefs, the phases of the moon are associated with the cycles of the life of King Lusin: the new moon with his youth, the full moon with maturity; when the moon wanes and a crescent appears, Lusin becomes old, and then goes to heaven (dies). He returns from paradise reborn.

There are also myths about the origin of the moon from parts of the body (most often from the left and right eyes). Most peoples of the world have special Lunar myths that explain the appearance of spots on the moon, most often by the fact that there is a special person there (“moon man” or “moon woman”). Many peoples attach special importance to the moon deity, believing that it provides the necessary elements for all living things.

2.2. Origin of the Moon.

The origin of the Moon has not yet been definitively established. Three different hypotheses have been most developed. At the end of the 19th century. J. Darwin put forward a hypothesis according to which the Moon and the Earth originally constituted one common molten mass, the speed of rotation of which increased as it cooled and contracted; as a result, this mass was torn into two parts: a larger one - the Earth and a smaller one - the Moon. This hypothesis explains the low density of the Moon, formed from the outer layers of the original mass. However, it encounters serious objections from the point of view of the mechanism of such a process; In addition, there are significant geochemical differences between the rocks of the Earth's shell and the lunar rocks.

The capture hypothesis, developed by the German scientist K. Weizsäcker, the Swedish scientist H. Alfven and the American scientist G. Urey, suggests that the Moon was originally a small planet, which, when passing near the Earth, as a result of the influence of the latter’s gravity, turned into a satellite of the Earth. The probability of such an event is very low, and, in addition, in this case one would expect a greater difference between the earth and lunar rocks.

According to the third hypothesis, developed by Soviet scientists - O. Yu. Schmidt and his followers in the middle of the 20th century, the Moon and Earth were formed simultaneously by combining and compacting a large swarm of small particles. But the Moon as a whole has a lower density than the Earth, so the substance of the protoplanetary cloud should have divided with the concentration of heavy elements in the Earth. In this regard, the assumption arose that the Earth, surrounded by a powerful atmosphere enriched with relatively volatile silicates, began to form first; with subsequent cooling, the substance of this atmosphere condensed into a ring of planetesimals, from which the Moon was formed. The last hypothesis at the current level of knowledge (70s of the 20th century) seems to be the most preferable. Not long ago, a fourth theory arose, which is now accepted as the most plausible. This is the giant impact hypothesis. The basic idea is that when the planets we see now were just forming, a celestial body the size of Mars crashed into the young Earth with tremendous force at a glancing angle. In this case, the lighter substances of the outer layers of the Earth would have to break away from it and scatter in space, forming a ring of fragments around the Earth, while the core of the Earth, consisting of iron, would remain intact. Eventually, this ring of debris fused together to form the Moon. The giant impact theory explains why the Earth contains large amounts of iron, but the Moon has almost none. In addition, from the material that was supposed to turn into the Moon, as a result of this collision, many different gases were released - in particular oxygen.

3.1. Lunar eclipses.

Due to the fact that the Moon, revolving around the Earth, is sometimes on the same line Earth-Moon-Sun, solar or lunar eclipses occur - the most interesting and spectacular natural phenomena that caused fear in past centuries, since people did not understand what was happening. It seemed to them that some invisible black dragon was devouring the Sun and people could remain in eternal darkness. Therefore, chroniclers of all nations carefully recorded information about eclipses in their chronicles. So the chronicler Cyril from the Novgorod Anthony Monastery wrote down on August 11, 1124: “Before evening the Sun began to wane, and that was all. Oh great is the fear and darkness that will exist!” History has brought to us an incident when a solar eclipse terrified the fighting Indians and Medes. In 603 BC. in the territory of modern Turkey and Iran. The warriors, in fear, threw down their weapons and stopped fighting, after which, frightened by the eclipse, they made peace and did not fight with each other for a long time. Solar eclipses occur only on a new moon, when the Moon passes neither lower nor higher, but just across the solar disk and, like a giant curtain, blocks the solar disk, “blocking the path of the Sun.” But eclipses are visible differently in different places; in some places the Sun is completely obscured - a total eclipse, in others - a partial eclipse. The essence of the phenomenon is that the Earth and the Moon, illuminated by the Sun, cast shadow ends (converging) and shadow ends (diverging). When the Moon falls in line with the Sun and the Earth and is between them, the lunar shadow moves across the Earth from west to east. The diameter of the full lunar shadow does not exceed 250 km, so at the same time the solar eclipse is visible only on a small area of ​​the Earth. Where the penumbra of the Moon falls on the Earth, an incomplete eclipse of the Sun is observed. The distance between the Sun and the Earth is not always the same: in winter in the northern hemisphere the Earth is closer to the Sun, and in summer further. The Moon, revolving around the Earth, also passes at different distances - sometimes closer, sometimes further from it. In the case when the Moon lags further from the Earth and cannot completely block the disk of the Sun, observers see the sparkling edge of the solar disk around the black Moon - a beautiful annular eclipse of the Sun occurs. When ancient observers accumulated records of eclipses over several centuries, they noticed that eclipses recurred every 18 years and 11 and a third days. The Egyptians called this period “saros”, which means “repetition”. However, to determine where the eclipse will be visible, it is, of course, necessary to make more complex calculations. During a full moon, the Moon sometimes falls completely or partially into the earth's shadow, and we see, respectively, a total or partial eclipse of the Moon. The Moon is much smaller than the Earth, so the eclipse lasts up to 1 hour. 40min. Moreover, even during a total lunar eclipse, the Moon remains visible, but turns purple, which causes unpleasant sensations. In the old days, eclipses of the Moon were feared as a terrible omen; they believed that “the month is bleeding.” The sun's rays, refracted in the Earth's atmosphere, fall into the cone of the earth's shadow. At the same time, the atmosphere actively absorbs blue and adjacent rays of the solar spectrum, and predominantly red rays are transmitted into the shadow cone, which are absorbed weaker, and they give the Moon an ominous reddish color. In general, lunar eclipses are a rather rare natural phenomenon. It would seem that lunar eclipses should be observed monthly - on every full moon. But that doesn't really happen. The Moon slips either under or above the Earth's shadow, and on a new moon the Moon's shadow usually passes by the Earth, and then eclipses also fail. Therefore, eclipses are not that frequent.

Diagram of a total lunar eclipse.

3.2. Eclipses in former times.

In ancient times, people were extremely interested in eclipses of the Sun and Moon. The philosophers of Ancient Greece were convinced that the Earth was a sphere because they noticed that the shadow of the Earth falling on the Moon was always in the shape of a circle. Moreover, they calculated that the Earth is about three times larger than the Moon, simply based on the duration of eclipses. Archaeological evidence suggests that many ancient civilizations attempted to predict eclipses. Observations at Stonehenge, in southern England, may have enabled Late Stone Age people 4,000 years ago to predict certain eclipses. They knew how to calculate the arrival time of the summer and winter solstices. In Central America 1,000 years ago, Mayan astronomers were able to predict eclipses by making a long series of observations and looking for repeating combinations of factors. Almost identical eclipses occur every 54 years and 34 days.

4.4. How often can we see eclipses?

Although the Moon orbits the Earth once a month, eclipses cannot occur monthly due to the fact that the plane of the Moon's orbit is tilted relative to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. At most, seven eclipses can occur in a year, of which two or three must be lunar. Solar eclipses occur only at new moon, when the Moon is exactly between the Earth and the Sun. Lunar eclipses always occur during the full moon, when the Earth is between the Earth and the Sun. We can hope to see 40 lunar eclipses in our lifetime (assuming the skies are clear). Observing solar eclipses is more difficult due to the narrowness of the solar eclipse band.

4.1. Moon Shape

The shape of the Moon is very close to a sphere with a radius of 1737 km, which is equal to 0.2724 of the equatorial radius of the Earth. The surface area of ​​the Moon is 3.8 * 107 sq. km., and the volume is 2.2 * 1025 cm3. A more detailed determination of the Moon’s figure is complicated by the fact that on the Moon, due to the absence of oceans, there is no clearly defined level surface in relation to which heights and depths could be determined; in addition, since the Moon is turned to the Earth with one side, it seems possible to measure the radii of points on the surface of the visible hemisphere of the Moon from the Earth (except for points at the very edge of the lunar disk) only on the basis of a weak stereoscopic effect caused by libration. The study of libration made it possible to estimate the difference between the major semi-axes of the Moon's ellipsoid. The polar axis is less than the equatorial axis, directed towards the Earth, by about 700 m and less than the equatorial axis, perpendicular to the direction to the Earth, by 400 m. Thus, the Moon, under the influence of tidal forces, is slightly elongated towards the Earth. The mass of the Moon is most accurately determined from observations of its artificial satellites. It is 81 times less than the mass of the earth, which corresponds to 7.35 * 1025 g. The average density of the Moon is 3.34 g. cm3 (0.61 the average density of the Earth). The acceleration of gravity on the surface of the Moon is 6 times greater than on Earth, amounts to 162.3 cm sec and decreases by 0.187 cm sec2 with an increase of 1 kilometer. The first escape velocity is 1680 m. sec, the second is 2375 m. sec. Due to the low gravity, the Moon was unable to maintain a gas shell around itself, as well as water in a free state.

4.2. Surface of the Moon

The Moon's surface is quite dark, with an albedo of 0.073, meaning it reflects on average only 7.3% of the Sun's light rays. The visual magnitude of the full Moon at average distance is - 12.7; It sends 465,000 times less light to Earth during a full moon than the Sun. Depending on the phases, this amount of light decreases much faster than the area of ​​the illuminated part of the Moon, so that when the Moon is at quarter and we see half of its disk bright, it sends us not 50%, but only 8% of the light of the full Moon. the color of moonlight is + 1.2, that is, it is noticeably redder than sunlight. The Moon rotates relative to the Sun with a period equal to a synodic month, so a day on the Moon lasts almost 1.5 days and the night lasts the same amount. Not being protected by the atmosphere, the surface of the Moon heats up to + 110 ° C during the day, and cools down to -120 ° C at night, however, as radio observations have shown, these huge temperature fluctuations penetrate only a few decimeters deep due to the extremely weak thermal conductivity of the surface layers. For the same reason, during total lunar eclipses, the heated surface cools quickly, although some places take longer

Even with the naked eye, irregular extended darkish spots are visible on the Moon, which were mistaken for seas; the name was preserved, although it was established that these formations have nothing in common with the earth’s seas. Telescopic observations, which were started in 1610 by Galileo, made it possible to discover the mountainous structure of the surface of the Moon. It turns out that the seas are plains of a darker hue than other areas, sometimes called continental (or mainland), replete with mountains, most of which are ring-shaped (craters). Based on many years of observations, detailed maps of the Moon were compiled. The first such maps were published in 1647 by J. Hevelius in the Lancet (Gdansk). Retaining the term “seas,” he also assigned names to the main lunar ridges - based on similar terrestrial formations: the Apennines, the Caucasus, the Alps. G. Riccioli in 1651 gave fantastic names to the vast dark lowlands: Ocean of Storms, Sea of ​​Crises, Sea of ​​Tranquility, Sea of ​​Rains, and so on; he called dark areas less adjacent to the seas bays, for example, Rainbow Bay, and small irregular spots - swamps, for example Swamp of Rot. He named individual mountains, mostly ring-shaped, after prominent scientists: Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho Brahe and others. These names have been preserved on lunar maps to this day, and many new names of outstanding people and scientists of later times have been added. On maps of the far side of the Moon, compiled from observations made from space probes and artificial satellites of the Moon, the names of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, S. P. Korolev, Yu. A. Gagarin and others appeared. Detailed and accurate maps of the Moon were compiled from telescopic observations in the 19th century by German astronomers I. Mädler, J. Schmidt and others. The maps were compiled in an orthographic projection for the middle phase of libration, that is, approximately as the Moon is visible from the Earth. At the end of the 19th century, photographic observations of the Moon began.

In 1896-1910, a large atlas of the Moon was published by French astronomers M. Levy and P. Puzet based on photographs taken at the Paris Observatory; later, a photographic album of the Moon was published by the Lick Observatory in the USA, and in the mid-20th century, J. Kuiper (USA) compiled several detailed atlases of photographs of the Moon taken on large telescopes of various astronomical observatories. With the help of modern telescopes, craters about 0.7 kilometers in size and cracks a few hundred meters wide can be seen, but not seen, on the Moon.

Most of the seas and craters on the visible side were named by the Italian astronomer Ricciolli in the mid-seventeenth century in honor of astronomers, philosophers and other scientists. After photographing the far side of the Moon, new names appeared on maps of the Moon. Titles are assigned posthumously. The exception is 12 crater names in honor of Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts. All new names are approved by the International Astronomical Union.

The relief of the lunar surface was mainly clarified as a result of many years of telescopic observations. The “lunar seas,” occupying about 40% of the visible surface of the Moon, are flat lowlands intersected by cracks and low winding ridges; There are relatively few large craters in the seas. Many seas are surrounded by concentric ring ridges. The remaining, lighter surface is covered with numerous craters, ring-shaped ridges, grooves, and so on. Craters smaller than 15-20 kilometers have a simple cup shape; larger craters (up to 200 kilometers) consist of a rounded shaft with steep internal slopes, have a relatively flat bottom, deeper than the surrounding terrain, often with a central hill. The heights of mountains above the surrounding area are determined by the length of shadows on the lunar surface or photometrically. In this way, hypsometric maps were compiled on a scale of 1: 1,000,000 for most of the visible side. However, absolute heights, the distances of points on the surface of the Moon from the center of the figure or mass of the Moon are determined very uncertainly, and hypsometric maps based on them give only a general idea of ​​the relief of the Moon. The relief of the lunar marginal zone, which, depending on the libration phase, limits the lunar disk, has been studied in much more detail and more accurately. For this zone, the German scientist F. Hein, the Soviet scientist A. A. Nefediev, and the American scientist C. Watts compiled hypsometric maps, which are used to take into account the unevenness of the edge of the Moon during observations in order to determine the coordinates of the Moon (such observations are made with meridian circles and from photographs of the Moon against the background of surrounding stars, as well as from observations of star occultations). Micrometric measurements determined the selenographic coordinates of several main reference points in relation to the lunar equator and the mean meridian of the Moon, which serve to reference a large number of other points on the lunar surface. The main starting point is the small regular-shaped crater Mösting, clearly visible near the center of the lunar disk. The structure of the lunar surface has been mainly studied by photometric and polarimetric observations, supplemented by radio astronomical studies.

Craters on the lunar surface have different relative ages: from ancient, barely visible, highly reworked formations to very clear-cut young craters, sometimes surrounded by light “rays”. At the same time, young craters overlap older ones. In some cases, the craters are cut into the surface of the lunar maria, and in others, the rocks of the seas cover the craters. Tectonic ruptures either dissect craters and seas, or are themselves overlapped by younger formations. These and other relationships make it possible to establish the sequence of appearance of various structures on the lunar surface; in 1949, Soviet scientist A.V. Khabakov divided lunar formations into several successive age complexes. Further development of this approach made it possible by the end of the 60s to compile medium-scale geological maps for a significant part of the lunar surface. The absolute age of lunar formations is known so far only at a few points; but, using some indirect methods, it can be established that the age of the youngest large craters is tens and hundreds of millions of years, and the bulk of large craters arose in the “pre-marine” period, 3-4 billion years ago.

Both internal forces and external influences took part in the formation of lunar relief forms. Calculations of the thermal history of the Moon show that soon after its formation, the interior was heated by radioactive heat and was largely melted, which led to intense volcanism on the surface. As a result, giant lava fields and a number of volcanic craters were formed, as well as numerous cracks, ledges and more. At the same time, a huge number of meteorites and asteroids fell on the surface of the Moon in the early stages - the remnants of a protoplanetary cloud, the explosions of which created craters - from microscopic holes to ring structures with a diameter of many tens, and possibly up to several hundred kilometers. Due to the absence of an atmosphere and hydrosphere, a significant part of these craters has survived to this day. Nowadays, meteorites fall on the Moon much less frequently; volcanism also largely ceased as the Moon used up a lot of thermal energy and radioactive elements were carried into the outer layers of the Moon. Residual volcanism is evidenced by the outflow of carbon-containing gases in lunar craters, spectrograms of which were first obtained by the Soviet astronomer N.A. Kozyrev.

4.4. Lunar soil.

Everywhere where spacecraft have landed, the Moon is covered with so-called regolith. This is a heterogeneous debris-dust layer ranging in thickness from several meters to several tens of meters. It arose as a result of crushing, mixing and sintering of lunar rocks during the fall of meteorites and micrometeorites. Due to the influence of the solar wind, the regolith is saturated with neutral gases. Particles of meteorite matter were found among the regolith fragments. Based on radioisotopes, it was established that some fragments on the surface of the regolith had been in the same place for tens and hundreds of millions of years. Among the samples delivered to Earth, there are two types of rocks: volcanic (lava) and rocks that arose due to the crushing and melting of lunar formations during meteorite falls. The bulk of volcanic rocks are similar to terrestrial basalts. Apparently, all lunar seas are composed of such rocks.

In addition, in the lunar soil there are fragments of other rocks similar to those on Earth and the so-called KREEP - rock enriched in potassium, rare earth elements and phosphorus. Obviously, these rocks are fragments of the substance of the lunar continents. Luna 20 and Apollo 16, which landed on the lunar continents, brought back rocks such as anorthosites. All types of rocks were formed as a result of long evolution in the bowels of the Moon. In a number of ways, lunar rocks differ from terrestrial rocks: they contain very little water, little potassium, sodium and other volatile elements, and some samples contain a lot of titanium and iron. The age of these rocks, determined by the ratios of radioactive elements, is 3 - 4.5 billion years, which corresponds to the most ancient periods of the Earth's development.

4.5. Internal structure of the Moon

The structure of the Moon's interior is also determined taking into account the limitations that data on the figure of the celestial body and, especially, the nature of the propagation of P and S waves impose on models of the internal structure. The real figure of the Moon turned out to be close to spherical equilibrium, and from the analysis of the gravitational potential it was concluded that its density does not change much with depth, i.e. unlike the Earth, there is no large concentration of masses in the center.

The uppermost layer is represented by the crust, the thickness of which, determined only in the areas of the basins, is 60 km. It is very likely that on the vast continental areas of the far side of the Moon the crust is approximately 1.5 times thicker. The crust is composed of igneous crystalline rocks - basalts. However, in their mineralogical composition, the basalts of continental and marine areas have noticeable differences. While the most ancient continental regions of the Moon are predominantly formed by light rock - anorthosites (almost entirely consisting of intermediate and basic plagioclase, with small admixtures of pyroxene, olivine, magnetite, titanomagnetite, etc.), crystalline rocks of the lunar seas, like terrestrial basalts, composed mainly of plagioclases and monoclinic pyroxenes (augites). They probably formed when magmatic melt cooled at or near the surface. However, since lunar basalts are less oxidized than terrestrial ones, this means that they crystallized with a lower oxygen to metal ratio. In addition, they have a lower content of some volatile elements and at the same time are enriched in many refractory elements compared to terrestrial rocks. Due to the admixtures of olivine and especially ilmenite, the sea areas look darker, and the density of the rocks composing them is higher than on the continents.

Under the crust is the mantle, which, like the earth’s, can be divided into upper, middle and lower. The thickness of the upper mantle is about 250 km, and the middle is about 500 km, and its boundary with the lower mantle is located at a depth of about 1000 km. Up to this level, the velocities of transverse waves are almost constant, and this means that the subsoil substance is in a solid state, representing a thick and relatively cold lithosphere, in which seismic vibrations do not die out for a long time. The composition of the upper mantle is presumably olivine-pyroxene, and at greater depths there is schnitzel and the mineral melilite, found in ultrabasic alkaline rocks. At the boundary with the lower mantle, temperatures approach melting temperatures, and strong absorption of seismic waves begins from here. This area is the lunar asthenosphere.

At the very center, there appears to be a small liquid core with a radius of less than 350 kilometers, through which transverse waves do not pass. The core can be iron sulfide or iron; in the latter case it should be smaller, which is in better agreement with estimates of the density distribution over depth. Its mass probably does not exceed 2% of the mass of the entire Moon. The temperature in the core depends on its composition and, apparently, lies within the range of 1300 - 1900 K. The lower limit corresponds to the assumption that the heavy fraction of lunar promaterial is enriched in sulfur, mainly in the form of sulfides, and the formation of a core from Fe - FeS eutectic with a melting point (weakly dependent from pressure) about 1300 K. The upper limit is better consistent with the assumption that the lunar promaterial is enriched in light metals (Mg, Ca, Na, Al), which are included, together with silicon and oxygen, in the composition of the most important rock-forming minerals of basic and ultrabasic rocks - pyroxenes and olivines. The latter assumption is also favored by the low content of iron and nickel in the Moon, as indicated by its low average area.

The rock samples returned by Apollo 11, 12 and 15 turned out to be mostly basaltic lava. This marine basalt is rich in iron and, less commonly, titanium. Although oxygen is undoubtedly one of the main elements of lunar sea rocks, lunar rocks are significantly poorer in oxygen than their terrestrial counterparts. Particularly noteworthy is the complete absence of water, even in the crystal lattice of minerals. The basalts delivered by Apollo 11 have the following composition:

The samples delivered by Apollo 14 represent a different type of crust - breccia, rich in radioactive elements. Breccia is an agglomerate of rock fragments cemented by small particles of regolith. The third type of lunar crust sample is aluminum-rich anorthosites. This rock is lighter than dark basalts. In terms of chemical composition, it is close to the rocks studied by Surveyor 7 in the mountainous region near the Tycho crater. This rock is less dense than basalt, so the mountains formed by it seem to float on the surface of denser lava.

All three rock types are represented in large samples collected by the Apollo astronauts; but confidence that they are the main types of rock composing the crust is based on the analysis and classification of thousands of small fragments in soil samples collected from various places on the surface of the Moon.

5.1. Moon phases

Not being self-luminous, the Moon is visible only in that part where the sun's rays fall, or rays reflected by the Earth. This explains the phases of the moon. Every month, the Moon, moving in orbit, passes between the Earth and the Sun and faces us with its dark side, at which time the new moon occurs. 1 - 2 days after this, a narrow bright crescent of the young Moon appears in the western sky. The rest of the lunar disk is at this time dimly illuminated by the Earth, which is turned toward the Moon with its daytime hemisphere. After 7 days, the Moon moves away from the Sun by 900, the first quarter begins, when exactly half of the Moon’s disk is illuminated and the terminator, that is, the dividing line between the light and dark sides, becomes straight - the diameter of the lunar disk. In the following days, the terminator becomes convex, the appearance of the Moon approaches a bright circle, and after 14 - 15 days the full moon occurs. On the 22nd day the last quarter is observed. The angular distance of the Moon from the sun decreases, it again becomes a crescent and after 29.5 days the new moon occurs again. The interval between two successive new moons is called a synodic month, which has an average length of 29.5 days. The synodic month is longer than the sidereal month, since during this time the Earth travels approximately 113 of its orbit and the Moon, in order to again pass between the Earth and the Sun, must travel an additional 113 of its orbit, which takes a little more than 2 days. If a new moon occurs near one of the nodes of the lunar orbit, a solar eclipse occurs, and a full moon near a node is accompanied by a lunar eclipse. The easily observable system of moon phases has served as the basis for a number of calendar systems.

5.2. A new stage in lunar exploration.

It is not surprising that the first flight of a spacecraft above Earth orbit was directed towards the Moon. This honor belongs to the Soviet spacecraft Luna-l, which was launched on January 2, 1958. In accordance with the flight program, a few days later it passed at a distance of 6,000 kilometers from the surface of the Moon. Later that year, in mid-September, a similar Luna series device reached the surface of the Earth's natural satellite.

A year later, in October 1959, the automatic Luna-3 spacecraft, equipped with photographic equipment, photographed the far side of the Moon (about 70% of the surface) and transmitted its image to Earth. The device had an orientation system with sensors of the Sun and Moon and jet engines running on compressed gas, a control and thermal control system. Its mass is 280 kilograms. The creation of Luna 3 was a technical achievement for that time, bringing information about the far side of the Moon: noticeable differences with the visible side were discovered, primarily the absence of extensive lunar seas.

In February 1966, the Luna-9 spacecraft delivered an automatic lunar station to the Moon, which made a soft landing and transmitted to Earth several panoramas of the nearby surface - a gloomy rocky desert. The control system ensured the orientation of the device, activation of the braking stage on command from the radar at an altitude of 75 kilometers above the surface of the Moon, and separation of the station from it immediately before the fall. Depreciation was provided by an inflatable rubber balloon. The mass of Luna-9 is about 1800 kilograms, the mass of the station is about 100 kilograms.

The next step in the Soviet lunar program was the automatic stations "Luna-16, -20, -24", designed to collect soil from the surface of the Moon and deliver its samples to Earth. Their mass was about 1900 kilograms. In addition to the braking propulsion system and the four-legged landing device, the stations included a soil intake device, a take-off rocket stage with a return vehicle for soil delivery. Flights took place in 1970, 1972 and 1976, and small amounts of soil were delivered to Earth.

Another problem was solved by Luna-17, -21 (1970, 1973). They delivered self-propelled vehicles to the Moon - lunar rovers, controlled from the Earth using a stereoscopic television image of the surface. "Lunokhod-1" traveled about 10 kilometers in 10 months, "Lunokhod-2" - about 37 kilometers in 5 months. In addition to panoramic cameras, the lunar rovers were equipped with: a soil sampling device, a spectrometer for analyzing the chemical composition of the soil, and a path meter. The masses of the lunar rovers are 756 and 840 kg.

The Ranger spacecraft were designed to take images during the fall, from an altitude of about 1,600 kilometers to several hundred meters above the lunar surface. They had a three-axis orientation system and were equipped with six television cameras. The devices crashed during landing, so the resulting images were transmitted immediately, without recording. During three successful flights, extensive materials were obtained to study the morphology of the lunar surface. The filming of Rangers marked the beginning of the American planetary photography program.

The design of the Ranger spacecraft is similar to the design of the first Mariner spacecraft, which were launched to Venus in 1962. However, the further construction of lunar spacecraft did not follow this path. To obtain detailed information about the lunar surface, other spacecraft were used - the Lunar Orbiter. These devices photographed the surface with high resolution from the orbits of artificial moon satellites.

One of the goals of the flights was to obtain high-quality images with two resolutions, high and low, in order to select possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft using a special camera system. The photographs were developed on board, scanned photoelectrically and transmitted to Earth. The number of shots was limited by the film supply (210 frames). In 1966-1967, five Lunar Orbiter launches were carried out (all successful). The first three Orbiters were launched into circular orbits with low inclination and low altitude; Each of them carried out stereo surveys of selected areas on the visible side of the Moon with very high resolution and surveys of large areas of the far side with low resolution. The fourth satellite operated in a much higher polar orbit; it photographed the entire surface of the visible side; the fifth and final “Orbiter” also conducted observations from a polar orbit, but from lower altitudes. Lunar Orbiter 5 provided high-resolution imaging of many special targets on the visible side, mostly at mid-latitudes, and low-resolution imaging of a significant portion of the backside. Ultimately, medium-resolution imaging covered almost the entire surface of the Moon, while targeted imaging was carried out at the same time, which was invaluable for planning lunar landings and its photogeological studies.

Additionally, precise mapping of the gravitational field was carried out, while regional mass concentrations were identified (which is important both from a scientific point of view and for landing planning purposes) and a significant displacement of the Moon’s center of mass from the center of its figure was established. The fluxes of radiation and micrometeorites were also measured.

The Lunar Orbiter devices had a triaxial orientation system, their mass was about 390 kilograms. After completing the mapping, these vehicles crashed onto the lunar surface to stop the operation of their radio transmitters.

Flights of the Surveyor spacecraft, intended to obtain scientific data and engineering information (mechanical properties such as load-bearing

ability of lunar soil), made a great contribution to understanding the nature of the Moon and to the preparation of the Apollo landings.

Automatic landings using a sequence of commands controlled by closed-loop radar were a major technical advance at the time. The Surveyors were launched using Atlas-Centauri rockets (the Atlas cryogenic upper stages were another technical success of the time) and placed into transfer orbits to the Moon. Landing maneuvers began 30 - 40 minutes before landing, the main braking engine was turned on by radar at a distance of about 100 kilometers from the landing point. The final stage (descent speed of about 5 m/s) was carried out after the end of the main engine operation and its release at an altitude of 7500 meters. The Surveyor's mass at launch was about 1 ton and at landing - 285 kilograms. The main braking engine was a solid-fuel rocket weighing about 4 tons. The spacecraft had a three-axis orientation system.

The excellent instrumentation included two cameras for a panoramic view of the area, a small bucket for digging a trench in the ground and (in the last three vehicles) an alpha analyzer for measuring the backscatter of alpha particles to determine the elemental composition of the soil under the lander. In retrospect, the results of the chemical experiment clarified much about the nature of the lunar surface and its history. Five of the seven Surveyor launches were successful; all landed in the equatorial zone, except for the last one, which landed in the ejecta region of the Tycho crater at 41° S. Surveyor 6 was something of a pioneer - the first American spacecraft launched from another celestial body (but only to a second landing site a few meters away from the first).

The manned Apollo spacecraft were next in the American lunar exploration program. After Apollo, there were no flights to the Moon. Scientists had to be content with continuing to process data from robotic and manned flights in the 1960s and 1970s. Some of them foresaw the exploitation of lunar resources in the future and directed their efforts to develop processes that could transform lunar soil into materials suitable for construction, energy production and rocket engines. When planning a return to lunar exploration, both automatic and manned spacecraft will no doubt find use.

5.3. Magnetism of the Moon.

There is very interesting information on the topic: the magnetic field of the moon, its magnetism. Magnetometers installed on the moon will detect 2 types of lunar magnetic fields: constant fields generated by the “fossil” magnetism of lunar matter, and alternating fields caused by electric currents excited in the bowels of the Moon. These magnetic measurements have given us unique information about the history and current state of the Moon. The source of the "fossil" magnetism is unknown and indicates the existence of some extraordinary era in the history of the Moon. Alternating fields are excited in the Moon by changes in the magnetic field associated with the "solar wind" - streams of charged particles emitted by the sun. Although the strength of the constant fields measured on the Moon is less than 1% of the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, the lunar fields turned out to be much stronger than expected based on measurements carried out earlier by Soviet and American vehicles.

Instruments delivered to the lunar surface by Apollo testified that constant fields on the Moon vary from point to point, but do not fit into the picture of a global dipole field similar to the earth's. This suggests that the detected fields are caused by local sources. Moreover, high field strengths indicate that the sources have become magnetized in external fields much stronger than those currently existing on the Moon. At some time in the past, the moon either itself had a strong magnetic field or was located in an area of ​​a strong field. Here we are faced with a whole series of mysteries of lunar history: did the Moon have a field similar to the earth’s? Was it much closer to Earth where the Earth's magnetic field was strong enough? Did it acquire magnetization in some other region of the solar system and was later captured by the Earth? The answers to these questions can be encrypted in the “fossil” magnetism of lunar matter.

The alternating fields generated by electric currents flowing in the bowels of the Moon are associated with the entire Moon, and not with any of its individual regions. These fields wax and wane rapidly in accordance with changes in the solar wind. The properties of induced lunar fields depend on the conductivity of the lunar fields of the interior, and the latter, in turn, is closely related to the temperature of the substance. Therefore, the magnetometer can be used as an indirect "resistance thermometer" to determine the internal temperature of the Moon.

Research work:

6.1. Tidal Power Plant Research.

Under the influence of the attraction of the Moon and the Sun, periodic rises and falls of the surface of the seas and oceans occur - ebbs and flows. At the same time, water particles perform both vertical and horizontal movements. The highest tides are observed on the days of syzygies (new and full moons), the smallest (quadrature) coincide with the first and last quarters of the Moon. Between syzygies and quadratures, tide amplitudes can change by a factor of 2.7.

Due to changes in the distance between the Earth and the Moon, the tidal force of the Moon can change by 40% over the course of a month; the change in the tidal force of the Sun over a year is only 10%. Lunar tides are 2.17 times stronger than solar tides.

The main period of tides is semi-diurnal. Tides with such frequency prevail in the World Ocean. Diurnal and mixed tides are also observed. The characteristics of mixed tides vary throughout the month depending on the declination of the Moon.

In the open sea, the rise of the water surface during high tide does not exceed 1 m. Tides reach significantly higher values ​​at river mouths, straits and in gradually narrowing bays with a winding coastline. The tides reach their highest levels in the Bay of Fundy (Atlantic coast of Canada). Near the port of Moncton in this bay, the water level during high tide rises by 19.6 m. In England, at the mouth of the Severn River, which flows into Bristol Bay, the highest tide height is 16.3 m. On the Atlantic coast of France, near Granville, the tide reaches height 14.7 m, and in the area of ​​Saint-Malo up to 14 m. In the inland seas, the tides are insignificant. Thus, in the Gulf of Finland, near Leningrad, the tide does not exceed 4...5 cm, in the Black Sea, near Trebizond, it reaches 8 cm.

The rise and fall of the water surface during high and low tides are accompanied by horizontal tidal currents. The speed of these currents during syzygies is 2...3 times greater than during quadratures. Tidal currents at their highest speeds are called “living water.”

At low tides on the gently sloping shores of the seas, the bottom may be exposed at a distance of several kilometers perpendicular to the coastline. Fishermen on the Terek coast of the White Sea and the Nova Scotia Peninsula in Canada use this circumstance when fishing. Before the tide comes in, they set up nets on the gently sloping shore, and after the water recedes, they drive up to the nets on carts and collect the caught fish.

When the time of passage of a tidal wave through the bay coincides with the period of oscillations of the tidal force, the phenomenon of resonance occurs, and the amplitude of oscillations of the water surface increases greatly. A similar phenomenon is observed, for example, in the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea.

At river mouths, tidal waves travel upstream, reduce the speed of the current and can reverse its direction. On the Northern Dvina, the effect of the tide is felt at a distance of up to 200 km from the mouth up the river, on the Amazon - at a distance of up to 1,400 km. On some rivers (Severn and Trent in England, Seine and Orne in France, Amazon in Brazil), the tidal current creates a steep wave 2...5 m high, which propagates up the river at a speed of 7 m/sec. The first wave may be followed by several smaller waves. As they move upward, the waves gradually weaken; when they encounter shallows and obstacles, they noisily break up and foam. This phenomenon is called boron in England, mascara in France, and poroca in Brazil.

In most cases, boron waves extend up the river 70...80 km, but in the Amazon up to 300 km. Boron is usually observed during the highest tides.

The decline in river water levels at low tide occurs more slowly than the rise at high tide. Therefore, when the tide begins to ebb at the mouth, the aftereffect of the tide can still be observed in areas remote from the mouth.

The St. Johns River in Canada, near its confluence with the Bay of Fundy, passes through a narrow gorge. During high tide, the gorge delays the movement of water up the river, the water level above the gorge is lower and therefore a waterfall is formed with the movement of water against the flow of the river. At low tide, the water does not have time to pass quickly enough through the gorge in the opposite direction, so the water level above the gorge turns out to be higher and a waterfall is formed, through which the water rushes down the river.

Tidal currents in the seas and oceans extend to much greater depths than wind currents. This promotes better mixing of water and delays the formation of ice on its free surface. In the northern seas, due to the friction of the tidal wave on the lower surface of the ice cover, the intensity of tidal currents decreases. Therefore, in winter in northern latitudes, tides are lower than in summer.

Since the rotation of the Earth around its axis is ahead in time of the movement of the Moon around the Earth, tidal friction forces arise in the water shell of our planet, to overcome which rotational energy is spent, and the rotation of the Earth slows down (by about 0.001 sec per 100 years). According to the laws of celestial mechanics, a further slowdown in the rotation of the Earth will entail a decrease in the speed of the Moon’s orbit and an increase in the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Ultimately, the period of rotation of the Earth around its axis should be equal to the period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth. This will happen when the period of rotation of the Earth reaches 55 days. At the same time, the daily rotation of the Earth will stop, and tidal phenomena in the World Ocean will also stop.

For a long time, the rotation of the Moon was slowed down due to the tidal friction that arose in it under the influence of gravity (tidal phenomena can occur not only in the liquid, but also in the solid shell of a celestial body). As a result, the Moon has lost its rotation around its axis and now faces the Earth on one side. Due to the prolonged action of the tidal forces of the Sun, Mercury also lost its rotation. Like the Moon in relation to the Earth, Mercury faces the Sun on only one side.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, tidal power in small bays and narrow straits was widely used to power mills. Subsequently, it was used to drive pumping installations of water pipelines, for transportation and installation of massive parts of structures during hydraulic construction.

Nowadays, tidal energy is mainly converted into electrical energy at tidal power plants and then poured into the general flow of energy generated by power plants of all types. Unlike river hydropower, the average amount of tidal energy varies little from season to season, which allows tidal power plants to be more uniform provide energy to industrial enterprises.

Tidal power plants use the difference in water levels created during high and low tides. To do this, the coastal basin is separated by a low dam, which retains tidal water at low tide. Then the water is released and it rotates the hydraulic turbines

Tidal power plants can be a valuable local energy resource, but there are not many suitable places on Earth to build them to make a difference to the overall energy situation.

In Kislaya Bay near Murmansk, the first tidal power plant in our country with a capacity of 400 kilowatts began operating in 1968. A tidal power station is being designed at the mouth of the Mezen and Kuloy with a capacity of 2.2 million kilowatts.

Projects for tidal power plants are being developed abroad in the Bay of Fundy (Canada) and at the mouth of the Severn River (England) with a capacity of 4 and 10 million kilowatts, respectively; tidal power stations of Rance and Saint-Malo (France) with a capacity of 240 and 9 thousand have come into operation. kilowatt, small tidal power plants operate in China.

So far, the energy of tidal power plants is more expensive than the energy of thermal power plants, but with a more rational construction of the hydraulic structures of these stations, the cost of the energy they generate can be reduced to the cost of the energy of river power plants. Since the planet's tidal energy reserves significantly exceed the total hydropower of rivers, it can be assumed that tidal energy will play a significant role in the further progress of human society.

The world community envisions the leading use of environmentally friendly and renewable energy from sea tides in the 21st century. Its reserves can provide up to 15% of modern energy consumption.

33 years of experience in operating the world's first tidal power plants - Rance in France and Kislogubskaya in Russia - have proven that tidal power plants:

operate stably in power systems both at base and at peak load schedules with guaranteed constant monthly electricity generation

do not pollute the atmosphere with harmful emissions, unlike thermal stations

do not flood land, unlike hydroelectric power plants

do not pose a potential danger unlike nuclear power plants

capital investments for power plant structures do not exceed the costs for hydroelectric power plants thanks to the float construction method tested in Russia (without jumpers) and the use of a new technologically advanced orthogonal hydraulic unit

the cost of electricity is the cheapest in the energy system (proved over 35 years at the Rance PES - France).

The environmental effect (using the example of the Mezen TPP) is to prevent the emission of 17.7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, which, with the cost of compensating the emission of 1 ton of CO2 at 10 USD (data from the 1992 World Energy Conference), can bring according to the formula The Kyoto Protocol has an annual income of about 1.7 billion USD.

The Russian school of using tidal energy is 60 years old. In Russia, the Tugurskaya TPP with a capacity of 8.0 GW and the Penzhinskaya TPP with a capacity of 87 GW on the Sea of ​​Okhotsk have been completed, the energy of which can be transferred to energy-deficient areas of Southeast Asia. On the White Sea, the Mezen TPP with a capacity of 11.4 GW is being designed, the energy of which is supposed to be sent to Western Europe via the East-West integrated energy system.

Floating "Russian" technology for the construction of tidal power plants, tested at the Kislogubskaya tidal power station and at the protective dam of St. Petersburg, allows one to reduce capital costs by a third compared to the classical method of constructing hydraulic structures behind the dams.

Natural conditions in the research area (Arctic):

sea ​​water with oceanic salinity 28-35 o/oo and temperature from -2.8 C to +10.5 C

air temperature in winter (9 months) up to -43 C

air humidity not lower than 80%

number of cycles (per year): soaking-drying - up to 690, freezing-thawing up to 480

fouling of structures in sea water with biomass - up to 230 kg/m2 (layers up to 20 cm thick)

electrochemical corrosion of metals up to 1 mm per year

the ecological state of the area is without pollution, sea water is free of petroleum products.

In Russia, substantiation of PES projects is carried out at a specialized marine scientific base in the Barents Sea, where studies of marine materials, structures, equipment and anti-corrosion technologies are carried out.

The creation in Russia of a new efficient and technologically simple orthogonal hydraulic unit implies the possibility of its mass production and a radical reduction in the cost of PES. The results of Russian work on TES were published in the major monograph by L.B. Bernstein, I.N. Usachev and others, “Tidal Power Plants,” published in 1996 in Russian, Chinese and English.

Russian tidal energy specialists at the Gidroproekt and NIIES institutes carry out a full range of design and research work on the creation of marine energy and hydraulic structures on the coast and on the shelf, including in the Far North, allowing to fully realize all the benefits of tidal hydropower.

Environmental characteristics of tidal power plants

Environmental Safety:

PES dams are biologically permeable

the passage of fish through the PES occurs almost unhindered

full-scale tests at the Kislogubskaya TPP did not reveal any dead fish or any damage to them (research by the Polar Institute of Fisheries and Oceanology)

The main food supply of the fish stock is plankton: 5-10% of plankton die at the PPP, and 83-99% at the HPP

the decrease in water salinity in the TES basin, which determines the ecological state of marine fauna and ice, is 0.05-0.07%, i.e. almost imperceptible

the ice regime in the TES basin is softening

hummocks and the prerequisites for their formation disappear in the basin

there is no pressure effect of ice on the structure

bottom erosion and sediment movement are completely stabilized during the first two years of operation

The floating method of construction makes it possible not to erect temporary large construction bases at the TPP sites, build dams, etc., which helps preserve the environment in the TPP area

the release of harmful gases, ash, radioactive and thermal waste, extraction, transportation, processing, combustion and burial of fuel, prevention of combustion of air oxygen, flooding of territories, the threat of a breakthrough wave are excluded

The PES does not threaten humans, and changes in the area of ​​its operation are only local in nature, and mainly in a positive direction.

Energy characteristics of tidal power plants

tidal energy

renewable

unchanged in monthly (seasonal and long-term) periods for the entire service life

independent of the water level of the year and the availability of fuel

used in conjunction with power plants of other types in power systems both in the base and at the peak of the load schedule

Economic justification for tidal power plants

The cost of energy at an IPP is the lowest in the energy system compared to the cost of energy at all other types of power plants, which has been proven over the 33-year operation of the industrial IPP Rance in France - in the Electricite de France energy system in the center of Europe.

For 1995, the cost of 1 kWh of electricity (in centimes) was:

The cost of kWh of electricity (in 1996 prices) in the feasibility study of the Tugurskaya TPP is 2.4 kopecks, in the Amguen NPP project - 8.7 kopecks.
The feasibility study of Tugurskaya (1996) and materials for the feasibility study of Mezenskaya TPP (1999), thanks to the use of effective technologies and new equipment, for the first time substantiated the equivalence of capital costs and construction time for large TPPs and new hydroelectric power stations under identical conditions.

Social significance of tidal power plants

Tidal power plants do not have harmful effects on humans:

no harmful emissions (unlike thermal power plants)

there is no flooding of land and no danger of waves breaking into the downstream (unlike hydroelectric power plants)

no radiation hazard (unlike nuclear power plants)

the impact on the TES of catastrophic natural and social phenomena (earthquakes, floods, military operations) does not threaten the population in the areas adjacent to the TES.

Favorable factors in TPP basins:

· mitigation (evening out) of climatic conditions in the territories adjacent to the TPP basin

· protection of coasts from storm phenomena

· expanding the capabilities of mariculture farms due to an almost doubling of seafood biomass

· improvement of the region's transport system

· exceptional opportunities for expanding tourism.

PES in the European energy system

Option for using PES in the European energy system - - -

According to experts, they could cover about 20 percent of Europeans' total electricity needs. This technology is especially beneficial for island territories, as well as for countries with long coastlines.

Another way to generate alternative electricity is to use the temperature difference between sea water and cold air in the Arctic (Antarctic) regions of the globe. In a number of areas of the Arctic Ocean, especially at the mouths of large rivers such as the Yenisei, Lena, and Ob, in the winter season there are especially favorable conditions for the operation of Arctic OTES. The average long-term winter (November-March) air temperature here does not exceed -26 C. The warmer and fresher river flow warms the sea water under the ice to 30 C. Arctic ocean thermal power plants can operate according to the usual OTES scheme, based on a closed cycle with low-boiling water working fluid. The OTES includes: a steam generator for producing steam of the working substance through heat exchange with sea water, a turbine for driving an electric generator, devices for condensing steam exhausted in the turbine, as well as pumps for supplying sea water and cold air. A more promising scheme is an Arctic OTES with an intermediate coolant cooled by air in irrigation mode" (See B.M. Berkovsky, V.A. Kuzminov “Renewable energy sources in the service of man”, Moscow, Nauka, 1987, pp. 63- 65.) Such an installation can already be manufactured at the present time. It can use: a) for the evaporator – an APV shell-and-plate heat exchanger with a thermal power of 7000 kW. b) for the condenser - APV shell-and-plate heat exchanger, thermal power 6600 kW or any other condensation heat exchanger of the same power. c) turbogenerator – a 400 kW Jungstrom turbine and two built-in generators with disk rotors, permanent magnets, with a total power of 400 kW. d) pumps - any, with a capacity for coolant - 2000 m3/h, for working substance - 65 m3/h, for coolant - 850 m3/h. e) cooling tower - collapsible, 5-6 meters high, with a diameter of 8-10 m. The installation can be assembled in a 20-foot container and transferred to any necessary place where there is a river with a water flow of more than 2500 m3/h, with a water temperature not less than +30C or a large lake from which such an amount of water can be taken, and cold air with a temperature below –300C. It will take only a few hours to assemble the cooling tower, after which, if the water supply is ensured, the installation will operate and produce more than 325 kW of electricity for useful use, without any fuel. From the above it is clear that it is already possible to provide humanity with alternative electricity if we invest in it.

There is another way to obtain energy from the ocean - power plants that use the energy of sea currents. They are also called “underwater mills”.

7.1. Conclusion:

I would like to base my conclusion on lunar-terrestrial connections and I want to talk about these connections.

LUNAR-EARTH CONNECTIONS

The Moon and the Sun cause tides in the water, air and solid shells of the Earth. The tides in the Hydrosphere caused by the action of

Moons. During a lunar day, measured in 24 hours and 50 minutes, there are two rises in sea level (high tides) and two lowerings (low tides). The range of oscillations of the tidal wave in the lithosphere at the equator reaches 50 cm, at the latitude of Moscow - 40 cm. Atmospheric tidal phenomena have a significant impact on the general circulation of the atmosphere.

The sun also causes all kinds of tides. The phases of solar tides are 24 hours, but the tidal force of the Sun is 0.46 Parts of the tidal force of the Moon. It should be borne in mind that depending on the relative position of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun, the tides caused by the simultaneous action of the Moon and the Sun either strengthen or weaken each other. Therefore, twice during the lunar month the tides will reach their highest and twice their lowest. In addition, the Moon revolves around a common center of gravity with the Earth in an elliptical orbit, and therefore the distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon varies from 57 to 63.7 Earth radii, as a result of which the tidal force changes by 40% during the month.

Geologist B.L. Lichkov, having compared graphs of tides in the ocean over the last century with a graph of the Earth's rotation speed, came to the conclusion that the higher the tides, the lower the Earth's rotation speed. A tidal wave constantly moving against the Earth's rotation slows it down, and the day lengthens by 0.001 seconds every 100 years. Currently, an earthly day is equal to 24 hours, or more precisely, the Earth makes a complete rotation around its axis in 23 hours 56 minutes. 4 seconds, and one billion years ago a day was equal to 17 hours.

B. L. Lichkov also established a connection between changes in the speed of rotation of the Earth under the influence of tidal waves and climate change. Other comparisons made by this scientist are also interesting. He took a graph of average annual temperatures from 1830 to 1939 and compared it with herring catch data for the same period. It turned out that temperature fluctuations caused by climate change under the influence of lunar and solar gravity affect the number of herring, in other words, their feeding and breeding conditions: in warm years there is more of it than in cold years.

Thus, a comparison of the graphs made it possible to conclude that there is a unity of factors that determine the dynamics of the troposphere, the dynamics of the solid shell of the earth - the lithosphere, the hydrosphere and, finally, biological

processes.

A.V. Shnitnikov also points out that the main factors creating rhythm in climate change are tidal force and solar activity. Every 40 thousand years, the length of the earth's day increases by 1 second. The tidal force is characterized by a rhythm of 8.9; 18.6; 111 and 1850 years, and solar activity has cycles of 11, 22 and 80-90 years.

However, the well-known surface tidal waves in the ocean do not have a significant effect on the climate, but internal tidal waves, affecting the waters of the World Ocean at significant depths, significantly disrupt the temperature regime and density of ocean waters. A.V. Shnitnikov, citing V.Yu. Wiese and O. Petterson, talks about a case when in May 1912, between Norway and Iceland, a surface of zero temperature was first discovered at a depth of 450 m, and then, 16 hours later, the internal wave raised this surface of zero temperatures to a depth of 94 M. A study of the distribution of salinity during the passage of internal tidal waves, in particular the surface with a salinity of 35%, showed that this surface rose from a depth of 270 m to 170 m.

The cooling of the surface waters of the ocean as a result of the action of internal waves is transmitted to the lower layers of the atmosphere in contact with it, i.e. internal waves affect the climate of the planet. In particular, cooling of the ocean surface leads to an increase in snow and ice cover.

The accumulation of snow and ice in the polar regions contributes to an increase in the speed of rotation of the Earth, since a large amount of water is withdrawn from the World Ocean and its level decreases. At the same time, the paths of cyclones shift towards the equator, which leads to greater humidification of the middle latitudes.

Thus, with the accumulation of snow and ice in the polar regions and during the reverse transition from the solid phase to the liquid, conditions arise for periodic redistribution of the water mass relative to the poles and the equator, which ultimately leads to a change in the daily speed of rotation of the Earth.

The close connection between the tidal force and solar activity with biological phenomena allowed A.V. Shnitnikov to find out the reasons for the rhythmicity in the migration of the boundaries of geographical zones along the following chain: tidal force, internal waves, temperature regime of the ocean, ice cover in the Arctic, atmospheric circulation, humidity and temperature regime of the continents ( river flow, lake level, peatland moisture content, groundwater, mountain glaciers, eternal

permafrost).

T. D. and S. D. Reznichenko came to the conclusion that:

1) the hydrosphere transforms the energy of gravitational forces into mechanical energy and slows down the rotation of the Earth;

2) moisture, moving to the poles or to the equator, transforms the thermal energy of the Sun into the mechanical energy of daily rotation and gives this rotation an oscillatory character.

In addition, according to literary data, they traced the history of the development of 13 reservoirs and 22 rivers of Eurasia over the past 4.5 thousand years and established that during this period of time the hydraulic network underwent rhythmic migration. With cooling, the speed of the Earth's daily rotation increased and the hydraulic network experienced a shift towards the equator. With warming, the Earth's daily rotation slowed down and the hydraulic network experienced a shift towards the pole

References:

1. Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

2. Children's encyclopedia.

3. B. A. Vorontsov - Velyaminov. Essays about the Universe. M., “Science”, 1975

4. Baldwin R. What do we know about the Moon. M., “Mir”, 1967

5. Whipple F. Earth, Moon and Planets. M., “Science”, 1967

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Tula State Communal and Construction College

On the topic of: Moonlike a satellite of the Earth

Completed by: student of group T 1-2

Andrianov A.I.

Checked by: Tsibikova V.G.

Tula 2012

Introduction

The Moon is the Earth's companion in outer space. This is the only natural satellite and the closest celestial body to us. The average distance to the Moon is 384,000 kilometers. Every month the Moon makes a complete journey around the Earth.

It glows only with light reflected from the Sun, so that constantly one half of the Moon, facing the Sun, is illuminated, and the other is immersed in darkness. How much of the illuminated half of the Moon is visible to us at a given moment depends on the position of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth.

As the Moon moves through its orbit, its shape appears to us to be gradually but continuously changing. The different visible shapes of the Moon are called its phases. The full cycle of phases ends and begins to repeat every 29.53 days.

moon satellite soil eclipse

Origin of the moon

Various hypotheses have been developed about the origin of the moon. At the end of the 19th century. J. Darwin put forward a hypothesis according to which the Moon and the Earth originally constituted one common molten mass, the speed of rotation of which increased as it cooled and contracted; as a result, this mass was torn into two parts: a larger one - the Earth and a smaller one - the Moon. This hypothesis explains the low density of the Moon, formed from the outer layers of the original mass. However, it encounters serious objections from the point of view of the mechanism of such a process; In addition, there are significant geochemical differences between the rocks of the Earth's shell and the lunar rocks.

The capture hypothesis, developed by the German scientist K. Weizsäcker, the Swedish scientist H. Alfven and the American scientist G. Urey, suggests that the Moon was originally a small planet, which, when passing near the Earth, as a result of the influence of the latter’s gravity, turned into a satellite of the Earth. The probability of such an event is very low, and, in addition, in this case one would expect a greater difference between the earth and lunar rocks.

According to the third hypothesis, developed by Soviet scientists - O.Yu. Schmidt and his followers in the middle of the 20th century, the Moon and the Earth were formed simultaneously by combining and compacting a large swarm of small particles. But the Moon as a whole has a lower density than the Earth, so the substance of the protoplanetary cloud should have divided with the concentration of heavy elements in the Earth. In this regard, the assumption arose that the Earth, surrounded by a powerful atmosphere enriched with relatively volatile silicates, began to form first; with subsequent cooling, the substance of this atmosphere, from which the Moon was formed.

The last hypothesis at the current level of knowledge (70s of the XX century) seems to be the most preferable. Not long ago, a fourth theory arose, which is now accepted as the most plausible. This is the giant impact hypothesis. The basic idea is that when the planets we see now were just forming, a celestial body the size of Mars crashed into the young Earth with tremendous force at a glancing angle. In this case, the lighter substances of the outer layers of the Earth would have to break away from it and scatter in space, forming a ring of fragments around the Earth, while the core of the Earth, consisting of iron, would remain intact. Eventually, this ring of debris fused together to form the Moon. The giant impact theory explains why the Earth contains large amounts of iron, but the Moon has almost none. In addition, from the material that was supposed to turn into the Moon, as a result of this collision, many different gases were released - in particular oxygen.

Mythological history of the moon

The moon in Roman mythology is the goddess of night light. The moon had several sanctuaries, one together with the sun god. In Egyptian mythology, the moon goddess Tefnut and her sister Shu, one of the incarnations of the solar principle, were twins. In Indo-European and Baltic mythology, the motif of the month courting the sun and their wedding is widespread: after the wedding, the month leaves the sun, for which the thunder god takes revenge on him and cuts the month in half. In another mythology, the month, who lived in the sky with his wife the sun, came to earth to see how people lived. On earth, the month was chased by Hosedem (an evil female mythological creature). The moon, hastily returning to the sun, only half managed to enter its chum. The sun grabbed him by one half, and Hosedem by the other and began to pull him in different directions until they tore him in half. The sun then tried to revive the month, which was left without the left half and thus without a heart, tried to make a heart for it from coal, rocked it in a cradle (a shamanic way of resurrecting a person), but everything was in vain. Then the sun commanded the month that it should shine at night with its remaining half. In Armenian mythology, Lusin (“moon”), a young man asked his mother, who was holding the dough, for a bun. The angry mother slapped Lusin in the face, from which he flew into the sky. Traces of the test are still visible on his face. According to popular beliefs, the phases of the moon are associated with the cycles of the life of King Lusin: the new moon - with his youth, the full moon - with maturity; when the moon wanes and a crescent appears, Lusin becomes old, and then goes to heaven (dies). He returns from paradise reborn.

There are also myths about the origin of the moon from parts of the body (most often from the left and right eyes). Most peoples of the world have special Lunar myths that explain the appearance of spots on the moon, most often by the fact that there is a special person there (“moon man” or “moon woman”). Many peoples attach special importance to the moon deity, believing that it provides the necessary elements for all living things.

Internal structure of the moon

The structure of the lunar interior is also determined taking into account the restrictions that data on the figure of the celestial body and, especially on the nature of the propagation of R. and S. waves, impose on models of the internal structure. The real figure of the Moon turned out to be close to spherical equilibrium, and from the analysis of the gravitational potential it was concluded that its density does not change much with depth, i.e. unlike the Earth, there is no large concentration of masses in the center.

The uppermost layer is represented by the crust, the thickness of which, determined only in the areas of the basins, is 60 km. It is very likely that on the vast continental areas of the far side of the Moon the crust is approximately 1.5 times thicker. The crust is composed of igneous crystalline rocks - basalts. However, in their mineralogical composition, the basalts of continental and marine areas have noticeable differences. While the most ancient continental regions of the Moon are predominantly formed by light rock - anorthosites (almost entirely consisting of intermediate and basic plagioclase, with small admixtures of pyroxene, olivine, magnetite, titanomagnetite, etc.), crystalline rocks of the lunar seas, like terrestrial basalts, composed mainly of plagioclases and monoclinic pyroxenes (augites). They probably formed when magmatic melt cooled at or near the surface. However, since lunar basalts are less oxidized than terrestrial ones, this means that they crystallized with a lower oxygen to metal ratio. In addition, they have a lower content of some volatile elements and at the same time are enriched in many refractory elements compared to terrestrial rocks. Due to the admixtures of olivine and especially ilmenite, the sea areas look darker, and the density of the rocks composing them is higher than on the continents.

Under the crust is the mantle, which, like the earth’s, can be divided into upper, middle and lower. The thickness of the upper mantle is about 250 km, and the middle is about 500 km, and its boundary with the lower mantle is located at a depth of about 1000 km. Up to this level, the velocities of transverse waves are almost constant, and this means that the subsoil substance is in a solid state, representing a thick and relatively cold lithosphere, in which seismic vibrations do not die out for a long time. At the boundary with the lower mantle, temperatures approach melting temperatures, and strong absorption of seismic waves begins from here. This area is the lunar asthenosphere.

At the very center, there appears to be a small liquid core with a radius of less than 350 kilometers, through which transverse waves do not pass. The core can be iron sulfide or iron; in the latter case it should be smaller, which is in better agreement with estimates of the density distribution over depth. Its mass probably does not exceed 2% of the mass of the entire Moon. The temperature in the core depends on its composition and, apparently, lies within the range of 1300 - 1900 K. The lower limit corresponds to the assumption that the heavy fraction of lunar promaterial is enriched in sulfur, mainly in the form of sulfides, and the formation of a core from Fe - FeS eutectic with a melting point (weakly dependent from pressure) about 1300 K. The upper limit is better consistent with the assumption that the lunar promaterial is enriched in light metals (Mg, Ca, Na, Al), which are included, together with silicon and oxygen, in the composition of the most important rock-forming minerals of basic and ultrabasic rocks - pyroxenes and olivines. The latter assumption is also favored by the low content of iron and nickel in the Moon, as indicated by its low average area.

The astronauts installed seismometers at four points on the Moon. These instruments record very weak moonquakes, which cannot be compared with our earthquakes. By observing vibrations caused by the same moonquake in different places, scientists can draw conclusions about the internal structure of the Moon. The nature of the propagation of moonquake waves shows that the lunar crust has a thickness of 60 to 100 km. Beneath it lies a layer of cold, dense rock 1000 km thick. And finally, in the depths there is a hot core, partly molten. However, unlike the Earth's core, it contains almost no iron, so the Moon has no magnetic field.

Moon Shape

On some days the Moon is not visible at all in the sky. On other days it looks like a narrow sickle, a semicircle and a full circle. The Moon, like the Earth, is a dark, opaque round body. The shape of the Moon is very close to a sphere with a radius of 1737 km, which is equal to 0.2724 of the equatorial radius of the Earth. The surface area of ​​the Moon is 3.8 * 10 7 km 2, and the volume is 2.2 * 10 25 cm 3. A more detailed determination of the Moon’s figure is complicated by the fact that on the Moon, due to the absence of oceans, there is no clearly defined level surface in relation to which heights and depths could be determined; in addition, since the Moon is turned to the Earth with one side, it seems possible to measure the radii of points on the surface of the visible hemisphere of the Moon from the Earth (except for points at the very edge of the lunar disk) only on the basis of a weak stereoscopic effect caused by libration. The study of libration made it possible to estimate the difference between the major semi-axes of the Moon's ellipsoid. The polar axis is less than the equatorial axis, directed towards the Earth, by about 700 m and less than the equatorial axis, perpendicular to the direction to the Earth, by 400 m. Thus, the Moon, under the influence of tidal forces, is slightly elongated towards the Earth. The mass of the Moon is most accurately determined from observations of its artificial satellites. It is 81 times less than the mass of the earth, which corresponds to 7.35 * 10 25 g. The average density of the Moon is 3.34 g. cm 3 (0.61 the average density of the Earth). The acceleration of gravity on the surface of the Moon is 6 times greater than on Earth, amounts to 162.3 cm sec 2 and decreases by 0.187 cm sec 2 with an increase of 1 kilometer. The first escape velocity is 1680 m. sec, the second is 2375 m. sec. Due to the low gravity, the Moon was unable to maintain a gas shell around itself, as well as water in a free state.

Surface of the moon

The Moon's surface is quite dark, with an albedo of 0.073, meaning it reflects on average only 7.3% of the Sun's light rays. The visual magnitude of the full Moon at average distance is - 12.7; It sends 465,000 times less light to Earth during a full moon than the Sun. Depending on the phases, this amount of light decreases much faster than the area of ​​the illuminated part of the Moon, so that when the Moon is at quarter and we see half of its disk bright, it sends us not 50%, but only 8% of the light of the full Moon. the color of moonlight is + 1.2, that is, it is noticeably redder than sunlight. The Moon rotates relative to the Sun with a period equal to a synodic month, so a day on the Moon lasts almost 1.5 days and the night lasts the same amount. Not being protected by the atmosphere, the surface of the Moon heats up to + 110 ° C during the day, and cools down to -120 ° C at night, however, as radio observations have shown, these huge temperature fluctuations penetrate only a few decimeters deep due to the extremely weak thermal conductivity of the surface layers. For the same reason, during total lunar eclipses, the heated surface quickly cools, although some places retain heat longer, probably due to high heat capacity (so-called “hot spots”).

Even with the naked eye, irregular darkish extended spots are visible on the Moon, which were mistaken for seas; the name was preserved, although it was established that these formations have nothing in common with the earth’s seas. Telescopic observations, which were started in 1610 by Galileo, made it possible to discover the mountainous structure of the surface of the Moon. It turns out that the seas are plains of a darker hue than other areas, sometimes called continental (or mainland), replete with mountains, most of which are ring-shaped (craters). Vast bright areas of the lunar surface, called continents, occupy about 60% of the disk visible from Earth. These are rugged, mountainous areas. The remaining 40% of the surface is seas, flat, smooth areas. The continents are crossed by mountain ranges. They are located mainly along the “coasts” of the seas. The highest height of the lunar mountains reaches 9 km.

Based on many years of observations, detailed maps of the Moon were compiled. The first such maps were published in 1647 by J. Hevelius in the Lancet (Gdansk). Retaining the term “seas,” he also assigned names to the main lunar ridges - under a similar earthly formation: the Apennines, the Caucasus, the Alps. G. Riccioli in 1651 gave fantastic names to the vast dark lowlands: Ocean of Storms, Sea of ​​Crises, Sea of ​​Tranquility, Sea of ​​Rains, and so on; he called dark areas less adjacent to the seas bays, for example, Rainbow Bay, and small irregular spots - swamps, for example Swamp of Rot. He named individual mountains, mostly ring-shaped, after prominent scientists: Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho Brahe and others. These names have been preserved on lunar maps to this day, and many new names of outstanding people and scientists of later times have been added. On maps of the far side of the Moon, compiled from observations made from space probes and artificial satellites of the Moon, the names of K.E. appeared. Tsiolkovsky, S.P. Koroleva, Yu.A. Gagarin and others. Detailed and accurate maps of the Moon were compiled from telescopic observations in the 19th century by German astronomers I. Mädler, J. Schmidt and others. The maps were compiled in an orthographic projection for the middle phase of libration, that is, approximately as the Moon is visible from the Earth. At the end of the 19th century, photographic observations of the Moon began.

In 1896-1910, a large atlas of the Moon was published by French astronomers M. Levy and P. Piezet based on photographs taken at the Paris Observatory; later, a photographic album of the Moon was published by the Lick Observatory in the USA, and in the mid-20th century, J. Kuiper (USA) compiled several detailed atlases of photographs of the Moon taken on large telescopes of various astronomical observatories. With the help of modern telescopes, craters about 0.7 kilometers in size and cracks a few hundred meters wide can be seen, but not seen, on the Moon.

The far side of the Moon has certain differences from the side facing the Earth. The low-lying areas on the far side of the Moon are not dark, but light areas, and they, unlike ordinary seas, were called thalassoids (sea-like). On the side visible from Earth, the lowlands are filled with dark lava; on the reverse side this did not happen, except in certain areas. The belt of seas continues on the reverse side with thalassoids.

Several small dark areas (similar to normal seas) found on the reverse side are located in the center of the thalassoids.

There is no atmosphere on the Moon. The sky above the Moon is always black, even during the day, because to scatter sunlight and create a blue sky, like on Earth, air is needed, which is not there. Sound waves do not travel in a vacuum, so there is complete silence on the Moon. There is no weather either; rain, rivers and ice do not shape the lunar landscape as they do on our planet.

During the daytime, the temperature of the lunar surface under the direct rays of the Sun rises significantly above the boiling point of water. To protect themselves from the unbearable heat, people who arrive on the Moon to conduct research wear special space suits, which contain air and maintain normal human physical parameters. And at night the temperature on the Moon drops to 150 0 below the freezing point of water.

Astronomical observations indicate the porous nature of the lunar surface material. Samples of lunar soil delivered to Earth are similar in composition to terrestrial rocks. The seas are composed of basalts, the continents are made of anorthosites (silicate rock enriched in aluminum oxides).

There is a special type of rock enriched in potassium and rare earth elements. The age of lunar igneous rocks is very long, their crystallization occurred four billion years ago, the most ancient samples are 4.5 billion years old. The nature of the lunar surface (the presence of melted particles and debris) indicates continuous meteorite bombardment, but the rate of destruction of the surface is low, about 10 - 7 cm/year.

Lunar soil

Everywhere where spacecraft have landed, the Moon is covered with so-called regolith. This is a heterogeneous debris-dust layer ranging in thickness from several meters to several tens of meters. It arose as a result of crushing, mixing and sintering of lunar rocks during the fall of meteorites and micrometeorites. Due to the influence of the solar wind, the regolith is saturated with neutral gases. Particles of meteorite matter were found among the regolith fragments.

Based on radioisotopes, it was established that some fragments on the surface of the regolith had been in the same place for tens and hundreds of millions of years. Among the samples delivered to Earth, there are two types of rocks: volcanic (lava) and rocks that arose due to the crushing and melting of lunar formations during meteorite falls. The bulk of volcanic rocks are similar to terrestrial basalts. Apparently, all lunar seas are composed of such rocks. In addition, in the lunar soil there are fragments of other rocks similar to those on Earth and the so-called KREEP - rock enriched in potassium, rare earth elements and phosphorus.

Obviously, these rocks are fragments of the substance of the lunar continents. Luna 20 and Apollo 16, which landed on the lunar continents, brought back rocks such as anorthosites. All types of rocks were formed as a result of long evolution in the bowels of the Moon. In a number of ways, lunar rocks differ from terrestrial rocks: they contain very little water, little potassium, sodium and other volatile elements, and some samples contain a lot of titanium and iron.

The age of these rocks, determined by the ratios of radioactive elements, is 3 - 4.5 billion years, which corresponds to the most ancient periods of the Earth's development.

Moon age

By studying radioactive substances contained in lunar rocks, scientists were able to calculate the age of the Moon. For example, uranium slowly turns into lead. In a piece of uranium-238, half of the atoms turn into lead atoms in 4.5 billion years.

Thus, by measuring the proportion of uranium and lead contained in a rock, its age can be calculated: the more lead, the older it is. The rocks on the Moon became solid about 4.4 billion years ago. The moon had apparently formed shortly before this; its most probable age is about 4.65 billion years. This is consistent with the age of the meteorites, as well as with estimates of the age of the Sun.

Moon phases

The moon is visible only in the part where the sun's rays fall, or rays reflected by the Earth. This explains the phases of the moon. Every month, the Moon, moving in orbit, passes between the Earth and the Sun and faces us with its dark side, at which time the new moon occurs. 1 - 2 days after this, a narrow bright crescent of the young Moon appears in the western sky.

The rest of the lunar disk is at this time dimly illuminated by the Earth, which is turned toward the Moon with its daytime hemisphere. After 7 days, the Moon moves away from the Sun by 90 0, the first quarter begins, when exactly half of the Moon’s disk is illuminated and the terminator, that is, the dividing line between the light and dark sides, becomes straight - the diameter of the lunar disk. In the following days, the terminator becomes convex, the appearance of the Moon approaches a bright circle, and after 14 - 15 days the full moon occurs. On the 22nd day the last quarter is observed. The angular distance of the Moon from the sun decreases, it again becomes a crescent and after 29.5 days the new moon occurs again. The interval between two successive new moons is called a synodic month, which has an average length of 29.5 days.

The synodic month is longer than the sidereal month, since during this time the Earth travels approximately 1 13 of its orbit and the Moon, in order to again pass between the Earth and the Sun, must travel an additional 1 13 of its orbit, which takes a little more than 2 days.

If a new moon occurs near one of the nodes of the lunar orbit, a solar eclipse occurs, and a full moon near a node is accompanied by a lunar eclipse. The easily observable system of moon phases has served as the basis for a number of calendar systems.

The different visible shapes of the Moon are called its phases. The full cycle of phases ends and begins to repeat every 29.59 days.

Relief of the lunar surface

The boundary between day and night on the Moon is called the terminator; at this time it is best to study the relief of the Moon, because all the irregularities cast a shadow and are easy to notice.

Even in the times of Galileo, maps of the visible side of the Moon were drawn up. Lowlands in which there is not a drop of water are called “seas” because they look like dark spots. The bottom of these lowlands is almost flat.

There are mountain ranges on the Moon. There are several of them and they were named like terrestrial ones (Alps, Caucasus). Their height is up to 9 km.

There are ring ramparts, up to several kilometers in height, that surround the circular plains. They are called circuses, their diameter can be up to 200 km.

These smaller ring mountains are called craters, which are named after scientists. There is a hypothesis that craters are created when meteorites hit the surface of the Moon.

Moon movement

The Moon moves around the Earth at an average speed of 1.02 km/sec in a roughly elliptical orbit in the same direction in which the vast majority of other bodies in the Solar System move, that is, counterclockwise when looking at the Moon's orbit from the North Pole.

The period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth, the so-called sidereal month, is equal to 27.321661 average days, but is subject to slight fluctuations and a very small secular reduction. Elliptical motion is only a rough approximation, and is subject to many disturbances caused by the attraction of the Sun, the planets, and the oblateness of the Earth.

The most important of these disturbances, or inequalities, were discovered from observations long before their theoretical derivation from the law of universal gravitation. The attraction of the Moon by the Sun is 2.2 times stronger than by the Earth, so, strictly speaking, one should consider the movement of the Moon around the Sun and the disturbance of this movement by the Earth.

However, since the researcher is interested in the movement of the Moon as seen from the Earth, the gravitational theory, which was developed by many major scientists, starting with I. Newton, considers the movement of the Moon around the Earth.

The Moon has an effect on the Earth, which is expressed in the ebb and flow of the tides. The same element of mass at the center of the Earth is attracted by the Moon weaker than on the side facing the Moon and stronger than on the opposite side.

As a result, the Earth, and primarily the water shell of the Earth, is slightly stretched in both directions along the line connecting it with the Moon.

Lunar eclipses

When, while moving around the Earth, the Moon falls into the cone of the Earth's shadow, which is cast by the globe illuminated by the Sun, a total lunar eclipse occurs. If only part of the Moon is immersed in the Earth's shadow, then a partial eclipse occurs.

A total lunar eclipse can last approximately 1.5 - 2 hours (as long as it takes the Moon to cross the Earth's shadow cone). It can be observed from all over the night hemisphere of the Earth, where the Moon is above the horizon at the moment of the eclipse. Therefore, in this area, total lunar eclipses can be observed much more often than solar eclipses.

During a total lunar eclipse of the Moon, the lunar disk remains visible, but it usually takes on a dark red hue. This phenomenon is explained by the refraction of sunlight in the earth's atmosphere. Passing through the earth's atmosphere, the sun's rays are scattered and refracted. Moreover, the scattering is mainly short-wave radiation (corresponding to the blue and cyan parts of the spectrum, which is what determines the blue color of our daytime sky), and long-wave radiation is refracted (corresponding to the red part of the spectrum). Refracted in the earth's atmosphere, long-wave solar radiation enters the earth's shadow cone and illuminates the Moon.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is at full moon. However, lunar eclipses do not occur every full moon. The fact is that the plane in which the Moon moves around the Earth is inclined to the ecliptic plane at an angle of approximately 5? . Most often there are two lunar eclipses a year. There were three total lunar events in 1982 (the maximum possible number of eclipses in a year).

Even ancient astronomers noticed that after a certain period of time, lunar and solar eclipses are repeated in a certain order; this period of time is called saros. The existence of Saros is explained by the patterns observed in the movement of the Moon. Saros is 6585.35 days (?18 years 11 days). There are 28 lunar eclipses every month. However, in a given place on earth, lunar eclipses are observed more often than solar eclipses, since lunar eclipses are visible from the entire night hemisphere of the Earth.

Knowing the duration of Saros, one can approximately predict the time of the onset of eclipses. Very accurate methods for predicting eclipses have now been developed. Astronomers have repeatedly helped historians clarify the dates of historical events.

In the past, the unusual appearance of the Moon and Sun during eclipses was terrifying. The priests, knowing about the recurrence of these phenomena, used them to subjugate and intimidate people, attributing eclipses to supernatural forces. The cause of eclipses has long ceased to be a mystery. Observations of eclipses allow scientists to obtain important information about the atmospheres of the Earth and the Sun, as well as the movement of the Moon.

Eclipses in former times

In ancient times, people were extremely interested in eclipses of the Sun and Moon. The philosophers of Ancient Greece were convinced that the Earth was a sphere because they noticed that the shadow of the Earth falling on the Moon was always in the shape of a circle. Moreover, they calculated that the Earth is about three times larger than the Moon, simply based on the duration of eclipses. Archaeological evidence suggests that many ancient civilizations attempted to predict eclipses.

Observations at Stonehenge, in southern England, may have enabled Late Stone Age people 4,000 years ago to predict certain eclipses. They knew how to calculate the arrival time of the summer and winter solstices. In Central America 1,000 years ago, Mayan astronomers were able to predict eclipses by making a long series of observations and looking for repeating combinations of factors. Almost identical eclipses occur every 54 years and 34 days.

Man on the Moon

On July 20, 1969, at 20:17:39 UTC, crew commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Edwin Aldrin landed the spacecraft's lunar module in the southwestern region of the Sea of ​​Tranquility. They remained on the lunar surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes and 21 seconds. All this time, command module pilot Michael Collins was waiting for them in lunar orbit. The astronauts made one exit to the lunar surface, which lasted 2 hours 31 minutes 40 seconds. The first man to set foot on the moon was Neil Armstrong. This happened on July 21, at 02:56:15 UTC. Aldrin joined him 15 minutes later.

The astronauts planted a US flag at the landing site, placed a set of scientific instruments and collected 21.55 kg of lunar soil samples, which were delivered to Earth. After the flight, the crew members and samples of lunar rock underwent strict quarantine, which did not reveal any lunar microorganisms dangerous to humans. The successful completion of the Apollo 11 flight program meant the achievement of the national goal set by US President John F. Kennedy in May 1961 - to land on the Moon by the end of the decade.

Conclusion

The Moon could become an excellent platform for carrying out the most complex observations in all branches of astronomy. Therefore, astronomers are likely to be the first scientists to return to the Moon. The Moon could become a base station for space exploration beyond its orbit. Thanks to the small force of lunar gravity, launching a huge space station from the Moon would be 20 times cheaper and easier than Earth. Water and breathable gases could be produced on the Moon because lunar rocks contain hydrogen and oxygen. Rich reserves of aluminum, iron and silicon would provide a source of building materials.

A lunar base would be very important for further searches for valuable raw materials available on the Moon, for solving various engineering problems and for space research carried out under lunar conditions.

In many ways, the Moon would be an ideal location for an observatory. Observations beyond the atmosphere are now made using telescopes orbiting the Earth, such as the Hubble Space Telescope; but telescopes on the Moon would be far superior in every respect. Instruments on the far side of the Moon are protected from light reflected by the Earth, and the Moon's slow rotation on its axis means that lunar nights last for 14 of our days. This would allow astronomers to conduct continuous observations of any star or galaxy for much longer than is currently possible.

Pollution on Earth is making it increasingly difficult to observe the sky. Light from big cities, smoke and volcanic eruptions pollute the skies, and television stations interfere with radio astronomy. In addition, it is impossible to observe infrared, ultraviolet and x-ray radiation from the Earth. The next important step in studying the Universe could be the creation of a scientific settlement on the Moon.

Bibliography

1. Great Soviet Encyclopedia;

2. Baldwin R. What do we know about the Moon. M., “Mir”, 1967;

3. Whipple F. Earth, Moon and Planets. M., “Science”, 1967;

4. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B0

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The hypothesis of a giant collision between the Earth and Theia. The movement of the Moon around the Earth at an average speed of 1.02 km/sec in an approximately elliptical orbit. Duration of a complete phase change. The internal structure of the Moon, ebbs and flows, causes of earthquakes.

practice report, added 04/16/2015


Research of the Earth's natural satellite - the Moon: pre-cosmic stage, study by automatic machines and people. travels from Jules Verne, physicists and astronomers to the devices of the Luna and Surveyor series. Research of robotic lunar rovers, landing of people. Magnetic anomaly.

thesis, added 07/14/2008


General information about the Moon, features of its surface. Lunar maria are huge craters resulting from collisions with celestial bodies, which were later flooded with liquid lava. Rotation of the Moon around its axis and the Earth. Causes of a solar eclipse.

presentation, added 03/22/2015


Compiling three-dimensional maps of the lunar surface using the NASA World Wind program. Stages of searching for water on the Earth’s natural space satellite, information processing algorithms. Database of information reference system for the nomenclature of lunar formations.