Moon: history of observations and research. Reference

LIBRATION OF THE MOON: The Moon completes a revolution around the Earth in 27.32166 days. In exactly the same time, it makes a revolution around its own axis. This is not a coincidence, but is associated with the influence of the Earth on its satellite. Since the period of revolution of the Moon around its axis and around the Earth is the same, the Moon should always face the Earth with one side. However, there are some inaccuracies in the rotation of the Moon and its movement around the Earth.

The rotation of the Moon around its axis occurs very uniformly, but the speed of its revolution around our planet varies depending on the distance to the Earth. The minimum distance from the Moon to the Earth is 354 thousand km, the maximum is 406 thousand km. The point of the lunar orbit closest to the Earth is called perigee from “peri” (peri) - around, around, (near and “re” (ge) - earth), the point of maximum distance is apogee [from the Greek “apo” (aro) - above, above and “re". At closer distances from the Earth, the speed of the Moon’s orbit increases, so its rotation around its axis “lags behind” somewhat. As a result, a small part of the far side of the Moon, its eastern edge, becomes visible to us. In the second half of its near-Earth orbit, the Moon slows down, causing it to "hurry" a little in turning around its axis, and we can see a small part of its other hemisphere from the western edge. it seems that it slowly oscillates around its axis, first for two weeks in the eastern direction, and then for the same amount of time in the western direction (However, such observations are practically difficult because part of the surface of the Moon is usually obscured by the Earth. - Ed.) Lever scales also oscillate around the equilibrium position for some time. In Latin, scales are “libra”, therefore the apparent vibrations of the Moon, due to the unevenness of its motion in its orbit around the Earth while rotating uniformly around its axis, is called libration of the Moon. Librations of the Moon occur not only in the east-west direction, but also in the north-south direction, since the axis of rotation of the Moon is inclined to the plane of its orbit. Then the observer sees a small section of the far side of the Moon in the areas of its north and south poles. Thanks to both types of libration, almost 59% of the Moon's surface can be seen from the Earth (not simultaneously).

GALAXY

The Sun is one of many hundreds of billions of stars gathered in a giant lens-shaped cluster. The diameter of this cluster is approximately three times its thickness. Our Solar System is located in its outer thin edge. Stars look like individual bright points scattered in the surrounding darkness of deep space. But if we look along the diameter of the lens of the assembled cluster, we will see an innumerable number of other star clusters that form a ribbon shimmering with soft light, stretching across the entire sky.

The ancient Greeks believed that this “path” in the sky was formed by drops of spilled milk, and called it a galaxy. "Galakticos" is in Greek milky from "galaktos" which means milk. The ancient Romans called it "via lactea", which literally means the Milky Way. As soon as regular telescope research began, nebulous clusters were discovered among distant stars. English astronomers father and son Herschel, as well as French astronomer Charles Messier, were among the first to discover these objects. They were called nebulae from the Latin “nebula” (nebula) fog. This Latin word was borrowed from the Greek language. In Greek, “nephele” also meant cloud, fog, and the goddess of clouds was called Nephele. Many of the discovered nebulae turned out to be dust clouds that covered some parts of our Galaxy, blocking light from them.

When observed, they looked like black objects. But many "clouds" are located far beyond the boundaries of the Galaxy and are clusters of stars as large as our own cosmic "home". They seem small only because of the gigantic distances that separate us. The closest galaxy to us is the famous Andromeda nebula. Such distant star clusters are also called extragalactic nebulae “extra” (extra) in Latin means the prefix “outside”, “above”. To distinguish them from the relatively small dust formations inside our Galaxy. There are hundreds of billions of these extragalactic nebulae - galaxies, as we now speak of galaxies in the plural. Moreover: since galaxies themselves form clusters in outer space, they speak of galaxies of galaxies.

INFLUENZA

The ancients believed that the stars influenced the destinies of people, so there was even a whole science that was dedicated to determining how they do this. We are talking, of course, about astrology, the name of which comes from the Greek words “aster” (aster) - star and “logos” (logos) - word. In other words, an astrologer is a “star talker.” Usually “-logy” is an indispensable component in the names of many sciences, but astrologers have discredited their “science” so much that they had to find another term for the true science of the stars: astronomy. The Greek word “nemein” means routine, pattern. Therefore, astronomy is a science that “orders” the stars, studying the laws of their movement, emergence and extinction. Astrologers believed that the stars emit a mysterious force that, flowing down to Earth, controls the destinies of people. In Latin, to pour in, flow down, penetrate - “influere”, this word was used when they wanted to say that star power “flows” into a person. In those days, the true causes of illness were not known, and it was quite natural to hear from a doctor that the illness that visited a person was a consequence of the influence of the stars. Therefore, one of the most common diseases, which we know today as influenza, was called influenza (literally, influence). This name was born in Italy (Italian influenca).

The Italians noticed the connection between malaria and swamps, but overlooked the mosquito. To them he was just a small annoying insect; They saw the real reason in the miasma of bad air over the swamps (it was undoubtedly “heavy” due to high humidity and gases released by decaying plants). The Italian word for something bad is “mala,” so they called the bad, heavy air (aria) “malaria,” which eventually became the generally accepted scientific name for the well-known disease. Today, in Russian, no one, of course, will call the flu influenza, although in English it is called that way, although in colloquial speech it is most often shortened to the short “flu”.

Perihelion

The ancient Greeks believed that celestial bodies move in orbits that are perfect circles, because a circle is an ideal closed curve, and the celestial bodies themselves are perfect. The Latin word “orbita” means track, road, but it is derived from “orbis” - circle.

However, in 1609, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler proved that each planet moves around the Sun in an ellipse, at one of the foci of which the Sun is located. And if the Sun is not in the center of the circle, then the planets at some points in their orbit approach it more than at others. The point of the orbit of a celestial body orbiting around it closest to the Sun is called perihelion.

In Greek, “peri-” is part of a compound word meaning near, around, and “helios” means the Sun, so perihelion can be translated as “near the Sun.” In a similar way, the Greeks began to call the point of greatest distance of a celestial body from the Sun “aphelios” (archeliqs). The prefix “apo” (aro) means away, from, so this word can be translated as “far from the Sun.” In the Russian program, the word “aphelios” turned into aphelion: the Latin letters p and h next to each other are read as “f”. The Earth's elliptical orbit is close to a perfect circle (the Greeks were right here), so the Earth has a difference between perihelion and aphelion of only 3%. Terms for celestial bodies describing orbits around other celestial bodies were formed in a similar way. Thus, the Moon revolves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit, with the Earth located at one of its foci. The point of the Moon's closest approach to the Earth was called perigee "re", (ge) in Greek Earth, and the point of greatest distance from the Earth was called apogee. Astronomers are familiar with double stars. In this case, two stars rotate in elliptical orbits around a common center of mass under the influence of gravitational forces, and the greater the mass of the companion star, the smaller the ellipse. The point of closest approach of the orbiting star to the main star is called periastron, and the point of greatest distance is called apoaster from the Greek. “astron” – star.

Planet - definition

Even in ancient times, people could not help but notice that the stars occupy a constant position in the sky. They moved only in a group and made only small movements around a certain point in the northern sky. It was very far from the sunrise and sunset points where the Sun and Moon appeared and disappeared.

Every night there was an inconspicuous shift in the entire picture of the starry sky. Each star rose 4 minutes earlier and set 4 minutes earlier compared to the previous night, so in the west the stars gradually disappeared from the horizon, and new ones appeared in the east. A year later the circle closed and the picture was restored. However, there were five star-like objects in the sky that shone as brightly, or even brighter, than the stars, but did not follow the general pattern. One of these objects could be located between two stars today, and tomorrow it could shift, the next night the displacement would be even greater, etc. Three such objects (we call them Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) also made a full circle in the heavens, but in a rather complicated way. And the other two (Mercury and Venus) did not move too far from the Sun. In other words, these objects “wandered” between the stars.

The Greeks called their vagabonds “planetes”, so they called these celestial vagabonds planets. In the Middle Ages, the Sun and Moon were considered planets. But by the 17th century. Astronomers have already realized the fact that the Sun is the center of the solar system, so celestial bodies that revolve around the Sun began to be called planets. The Sun lost its status as a planet, and the Earth, on the contrary, acquired it. The Moon also ceased to be a planet, because it revolves around the Earth and only goes around the Sun together with the Earth.

> > > Orbit of the Moon

Moon orbit– rotation of the satellite around the Earth. Study apogee, perigee and eccentricity, distance to the planet, lunar cycles and phases with photos and how the orbit will change.

People have always looked with delight at the neighboring satellite, which seems something divine due to its brightness. The moon rotates in orbit around the Earth since its creation, so the first people also observed it. Curiosity and evolution led to computing and our ability to notice patterns of behavior.

For example, the axis of rotation of the Moon coincides with the orbital one. Essentially, the satellite is located in a gravitational block, that is, we always look at one side (this is how the idea of ​​​​the mysterious far side of the Moon arose). Due to its elliptical path, the celestial body periodically appears larger or smaller.

Orbital parameters of the Moon

The average lunar eccentricity is 0.0549, which means the Moon does not orbit the Earth in a perfect circle. The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,748 km. But it can vary from 364397 km to 406748 km.

This leads to a change in angular velocity and observed size. In the full Moon phase and at the perihelion position (closest), we see it 10% larger and 30% brighter than at apogee (maximum distance).

The average inclination of the orbit relative to the ecliptic plane is 5.155°. The sidereal and axial periods coincide - 27.3 days. This is called synchronous rotation. That is why a “dark side” has appeared that we simply do not see.

The Earth also orbits the Sun, and the Moon orbits the Earth in 29.53 days. This is a synodic period that undergoes phases.

Lunar orbit cycle

The lunar cycle gives rise to the phases of the Moon - an apparent change in the appearance of a celestial body in the sky due to changes in the amount of illumination. When the star, planet and satellite line up, the angle between the Moon and the Sun is 0 degrees.

During this period, the lunar side facing the Sun receives the maximum rays, while the side facing us is dark. Next comes the passage and the angle increases. After the New Moon, objects are separated by 90 degrees, and we already see a different picture. In the diagram below you can study in detail how the lunar phases are formed.

If they are located in opposite directions, then the angle is 180 degrees. The lunar month lasts 28 days, during which the satellite “grows” and “wanes.”

At a quarter, the Moon is less than half full and growing. Next comes the transition beyond half, and it fades away. We meet the last quarter, where the other side of the disk is already illuminated.

The future of lunar orbit

We already know that the satellite is gradually moving away in orbit from the planet (1-2 cm per year). And this affects the fact that with each century our day becomes 1/500th of a second longer. That is, approximately 620 million years ago, the Earth could boast of only 21 hours.

Now the day covers 24 hours, but the Moon does not stop trying to escape. We are used to having a companion and it is sad to lose such a partner. But the relationships between objects change. I just wonder how this will affect us.

In 1609, after the invention of the telescope, humanity was able to examine its space satellite in detail for the first time. Since then, the Moon has been the most studied cosmic body, as well as the first one that man managed to visit.

The first thing we have to figure out is what our satellite is? The answer is unexpected: although the Moon is considered a satellite, technically it is the same full-fledged planet as the Earth. It has large dimensions - 3476 kilometers across at the equator - and a mass of 7.347 × 10 22 kilograms; The Moon is only slightly inferior to the smallest planet in the Solar System. All this makes it a full participant in the Moon-Earth gravitational system.

Another such tandem is known in the Solar System, and Charon. Although the entire mass of our satellite is a little more than a hundredth of the mass of the Earth, the Moon does not orbit the Earth itself - they have a common center of mass. And the proximity of the satellite to us gives rise to another interesting effect, tidal locking. Because of it, the Moon always faces the same side towards the Earth.

Moreover, from the inside, the Moon is structured like a full-fledged planet - it has a crust, a mantle and even a core, and in the distant past there were volcanoes on it. However, nothing remains of the ancient landscapes - over the course of four and a half billion years of the Moon’s history, millions of tons of meteorites and asteroids fell on it, furrowing it, leaving craters. Some of the impacts were so strong that they tore through its crust all the way to its mantle. The pits from such collisions formed lunar maria, dark spots on the Moon that are easily visible from. Moreover, they are present exclusively on the visible side. Why? We will talk about this further.

Among cosmic bodies, the Moon influences the Earth the most - except, perhaps, the Sun. Lunar tides, which regularly raise water levels in the world's oceans, are the most obvious, but not the most powerful, impact of the satellite. Thus, gradually moving away from the Earth, the Moon slows down the rotation of the planet - a solar day has grown from the original 5 to the modern 24 hours. The satellite also serves as a natural barrier against hundreds of meteorites and asteroids, intercepting them as they approach the Earth.

And without a doubt, the Moon is a tasty object for astronomers: both amateurs and professionals. Although the distance to the Moon has been measured to within a meter using laser technology, and soil samples from it have been brought back to Earth many times, there is still room for discovery. For example, scientists are hunting for lunar anomalies - mysterious flashes and lights on the surface of the Moon, not all of which have an explanation. It turns out that our satellite hides much more than is visible on the surface - let's understand the secrets of the Moon together!

Topographic map of the Moon

Characteristics of the Moon

Scientific study of the Moon today is more than 2200 years old. The motion of a satellite in the Earth's sky, its phases and distance from it to the Earth were described in detail by the ancient Greeks - and the internal structure of the Moon and its history are studied to this day by spacecraft. Nevertheless, centuries of work by philosophers, and then physicists and mathematicians, have provided very accurate data about how our Moon looks and moves, and why it is the way it is. All information about the satellite can be divided into several categories that flow from each other.

Orbital characteristics of the Moon

How does the Moon move around the Earth? If our planet were stationary, the satellite would rotate in an almost perfect circle, from time to time slightly approaching and moving away from the planet. But the Earth itself is around the Sun - the Moon has to constantly “catch up” with the planet. And our Earth is not the only body with which our satellite interacts. The Sun, located 390 times farther than the Earth from the Moon, is 333 thousand times more massive than the Earth. And even taking into account the inverse square law, according to which the intensity of any energy source drops sharply with distance, the Sun attracts the Moon 2.2 times stronger than the Earth!

Therefore, the final trajectory of our satellite’s motion resembles a spiral, and a complex one at that. The axis of the lunar orbit fluctuates, the Moon itself periodically approaches and moves away, and on a global scale it even flies away from the Earth. These same fluctuations lead to the fact that the visible side of the Moon is not the same hemisphere of the satellite, but its different parts, which alternately turn towards the Earth due to the “swaying” of the satellite in orbit. These movements of the Moon in longitude and latitude are called librations, and allow us to look beyond the far side of our satellite long before the first flyby by spacecraft. From east to west, the Moon rotates 7.5 degrees, and from north to south - 6.5. Therefore, both poles of the Moon can be easily seen from Earth.

The specific orbital characteristics of the Moon are useful not only to astronomers and cosmonauts - for example, photographers especially appreciate the supermoon: the phase of the Moon in which it reaches its maximum size. This is a full moon during which the Moon is at perigee. Here are the main parameters of our satellite:

• The Moon's orbit is elliptical, its deviation from a perfect circle is about 0.049. Taking into account orbital fluctuations, the minimum distance of the satellite to the Earth (perigee) is 362 thousand kilometers, and the maximum (apogee) is 405 thousand kilometers.
• The common center of mass of the Earth and the Moon is located 4.5 thousand kilometers from the center of the Earth.
• A sidereal month - the complete passage of the Moon in its orbit - takes 27.3 days. However, for a complete revolution around the Earth and a change in lunar phases, it takes 2.2 days more - after all, during the time that the Moon moves in its orbit, the Earth flies a thirteenth part of its own orbit around the Sun!
• The Moon is tidally locked into the Earth - it rotates on its axis at the same speed as around the Earth. Because of this, the Moon is constantly turned to the Earth with the same side. This condition is typical for satellites that are very close to the planet.

• Night and day on the Moon are very long - half the length of an earthly month.
• During those periods when the Moon comes out from behind the globe, it is visible in the sky - the shadow of our planet gradually slides off the satellite, allowing the Sun to illuminate it, and then covers it back. Changes in the illumination of the Moon, visible from the Earth, are called ee. During the new moon, the satellite is not visible in the sky; during the young moon phase, its thin crescent appears, resembling the curl of the letter “P”; in the first quarter, the Moon is exactly half illuminated, and during the full moon it is most noticeable. Further phases - the second quarter and the old moon - occur in the reverse order.

Interesting fact: since the lunar month is shorter than the calendar month, sometimes there can be two full moons in one month - the second is called a “blue moon”. It is as bright as an ordinary light - it illuminates the Earth by 0.25 lux (for example, ordinary lighting inside a house is 50 lux). The Earth itself illuminates the Moon 64 times stronger - as much as 16 lux. Of course, all the light is not our own, but reflected sunlight.

• The Moon's orbit is inclined to the Earth's orbital plane and regularly crosses it. The satellite's inclination is constantly changing, varying between 4.5° and 5.3°. It takes more than 18 years for the Moon to change its inclination.
• The Moon moves around the Earth at a speed of 1.02 km/s. This is much less than the speed of the Earth around the Sun - 29.7 km/s. The maximum speed of the spacecraft achieved by the Helios-B solar probe was 66 kilometers per second.

Physical parameters of the Moon and its composition

It took people a long time to understand how big the Moon is and what it consists of. Only in 1753, the scientist R. Bošković was able to prove that the Moon does not have a significant atmosphere, as well as liquid seas - when covered by the Moon, the stars disappear instantly, when their presence would make it possible to observe their gradual “attenuation”. It took another 200 years for the Soviet station Luna 13 to measure the mechanical properties of the lunar surface in 1966. And nothing was known at all about the far side of the Moon until 1959, when the Luna-3 apparatus was able to take its first photographs.

The Apollo 11 spacecraft crew returned the first samples to the surface in 1969. They also became the first people to visit the Moon - until 1972, 6 ships landed on it and 12 astronauts landed. The reliability of these flights was often doubted - however, many of the critics' points were based on their ignorance of space affairs. The American flag, which, according to conspiracy theorists, “could not have flown in the airless space of the Moon,” is in fact solid and static - it was specially reinforced with solid threads. This was done specifically in order to take beautiful pictures - a sagging canvas is not so spectacular.

Many distortions of colors and relief shapes in the reflections on the helmets of the spacesuits in which counterfeits were sought were due to gold plating on the glass, which protected against ultraviolet. Soviet cosmonauts who watched the live broadcast of the astronaut landing also confirmed the authenticity of what was happening. And who can deceive an expert in his field?

And complete geological and topographic maps of our satellite are being compiled to this day. In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) space station not only delivered the most detailed images of the Moon in history, but also proved the presence of large amounts of frozen water on it. He also put an end to the debate about whether people were on the Moon by filming traces of the activities of the Apollo team from low lunar orbit. The device was equipped with equipment from several countries, including Russia.

Since new space states like China and private companies are joining the lunar exploration, new data is arriving every day. We have collected the main parameters of our satellite:

• The surface area of ​​the Moon occupies 37.9x10 6 square kilometers - about 0.07% of the total area of ​​the Earth. Incredibly, this is only 20% greater than the area of ​​all human-inhabited areas on our planet!
• The average density of the Moon is 3.4 g/cm 3 . It is 40% less than the density of the Earth - primarily due to the fact that the satellite is devoid of many heavy elements like iron, which our planet is rich in. In addition, 2% of the Moon's mass is regolith - small crumbs of rock created by cosmic erosion and meteorite impacts, the density of which is lower than normal rock. Its thickness in some places reaches tens of meters!
• Everyone knows that the Moon is much smaller than the Earth, which affects its gravity. The acceleration of free fall on it is 1.63 m/s 2 - only 16.5 percent of the entire gravitational force of the Earth. The astronauts' jumps on the Moon were very high, even though their spacesuits weighed 35.4 kilograms - almost like knight's armor! At the same time, they were still holding back: a fall in a vacuum was quite dangerous. Below is a video of the astronaut jumping from the live broadcast.

• Lunar maria cover about 17% of the entire Moon - mainly its visible side, which is covered by almost a third. They are traces of impacts from particularly heavy meteorites, which literally tore the crust off the satellite. In these places, only a thin, half-kilometer layer of solidified lava—basalt—separates the surface from the lunar mantle. Because the concentration of solids increases closer to the center of any large cosmic body, there is more metal in the lunar maria than anywhere else on the Moon.
• The main form of relief of the Moon is craters and other derivatives from impacts and shock waves from steroids. Huge lunar mountains and circuses were built and changed the structure of the surface of the Moon beyond recognition. Their role was especially strong at the beginning of the history of the Moon, when it was still liquid - the falls raised whole waves of molten stone. This also caused the formation of lunar seas: the side facing the Earth was hotter due to the concentration of heavy substances in it, which is why asteroids affected it more strongly than the cool back side. The reason for this uneven distribution of matter was the gravity of the Earth, which was especially strong at the beginning of the Moon’s history, when it was closer.

• In addition to craters, mountains and seas, there are caves and cracks in the moon - surviving witnesses of the times when the bowels of the Moon were as hot as , and volcanoes were active on it. These caves often contain water ice, just like the craters at the poles, which is why they are often considered as sites for future lunar bases.
• The real color of the Moon's surface is very dark, closer to black. All over the Moon there are a variety of colors - from turquoise blue to almost orange. The light gray tint of the Moon from the Earth and in the photographs is due to the high illumination of the Moon by the Sun. Due to its dark color, the surface of the satellite reflects only 12% of all rays falling from our star. If the Moon were brighter, during full moons it would be as bright as day.

How was the Moon formed?

The study of lunar minerals and its history is one of the most difficult disciplines for scientists. The surface of the Moon is open to cosmic rays, and there is nothing to retain heat at the surface - therefore, the satellite heats up to 105 ° C during the day, and cools down to –150 ° C at night. The two-week duration of day and night increases the effect on the surface - and as a result, the minerals of the Moon change beyond recognition with time. However, we managed to find out something.

Today it is believed that the Moon is the product of a collision between a large embryonic planet, Theia, and the Earth, which occurred billions of years ago when our planet was completely molten. Part of the planet that collided with us (and it was the size of ) was absorbed - but its core, along with part of the surface matter of the Earth, was thrown into orbit by inertia, where it remained in the form of the Moon.

This is proven by the deficiency of iron and other metals on the Moon, already mentioned above - by the time Theia tore out a piece of earthly matter, most of the heavy elements of our planet were drawn by gravity inward, to the core. This collision affected the further development of the Earth - it began to rotate faster, and its axis of rotation tilted, which made the change of seasons possible.

Then the Moon developed like an ordinary planet - it formed an iron core, mantle, crust, lithospheric plates and even its own atmosphere. However, the low mass and composition poor in heavy elements led to the fact that the interior of our satellite quickly cooled, and the atmosphere evaporated from the high temperature and lack of a magnetic field. However, some processes inside still occur - due to movements in the lithosphere of the Moon, moonquakes sometimes occur. They represent one of the main dangers for future colonizers of the Moon: their scale reaches 5.5 points on the Richter scale, and they last much longer than those on Earth - there is no ocean capable of absorbing the impulse of the movement of the Earth’s interior.

The main chemical elements on the Moon are silicon, aluminum, calcium and magnesium. The minerals that form these elements are similar to those on Earth and are even found on our planet. However, the main difference between the minerals of the Moon is the absence of exposure to water and oxygen produced by living beings, a high proportion of meteorite impurities and traces of the effects of cosmic radiation. The Earth's ozone layer was formed quite a long time ago, and the atmosphere burns most of the mass of falling meteorites, allowing water and gases to slowly but surely change the appearance of our planet.

Future of the Moon

The Moon is the first cosmic body after Mars that claims priority for human colonization. In a sense, the Moon has already been mastered - the USSR and the USA left state regalia on the satellite, and orbital radio telescopes are hiding behind the far side of the Moon from the Earth, a generator of a lot of interference on the air. However, what does the future hold for our satellite?

The main process, which has already been mentioned more than once in the article, is the moving away of the Moon due to tidal acceleration. It happens quite slowly - the satellite moves away no more than 0.5 centimeters per year. However, something completely different is important here. Moving away from the Earth, the Moon slows down its rotation. Sooner or later, a moment may come when a day on Earth will last as long as a lunar month - 29–30 days.

However, the removal of the Moon will have its limit. After reaching it, the Moon will begin to approach the Earth in turns - and much faster than it was moving away. However, it will not be possible to completely crash into it. 12–20 thousand kilometers from the Earth, its Roche lobe begins - the gravitational limit at which a satellite of a planet can maintain a solid shape. Therefore, the Moon will be torn into millions of small fragments as it approaches. Some of them will fall to Earth, causing a bombardment thousands of times more powerful than nuclear, and the rest will form a ring around the planet like . However, it will not be so bright - the rings of gas giants consist of ice, which is many times brighter than the dark rocks of the Moon - they will not always be visible in the sky. The ring of the Earth will create a problem for astronomers of the future - if, of course, by that time there is anyone left on the planet.

Colonization of the Moon

However, all this will happen in billions of years. Until then, humanity views the Moon as the first potential object for space colonization. However, what exactly is meant by “lunar exploration”? Now we will look at the immediate prospects together.

Many people think of space colonization as similar to New Age colonization of Earth - finding valuable resources, extracting them, and then bringing them back home. However, this does not apply to space - in the next couple of hundred years, delivering a kilogram of gold even from the nearest asteroid will cost more than extracting it from the most complex and dangerous mines. Also, the Moon is unlikely to act as a “dacha sector of the Earth” in the near future - although there are large deposits of valuable resources there, it will be difficult to grow food there.

But our satellite may well become a base for further space exploration in promising directions - for example, Mars. The main problem of astronautics today is restrictions on the weight of spacecraft. To launch, you have to build monstrous structures that require tons of fuel - after all, you need to overcome not only the gravity of the Earth, but also the atmosphere! And if this is an interplanetary ship, then it also needs to be refueled. This seriously constrains designers, forcing them to choose economy over functionality.

The moon is much better suited as a launch pad for spaceships. The lack of an atmosphere and low speed to overcome the Moon's gravity - 2.38 km/s versus 11.2 km/s on Earth - make launches much easier. And the satellite's mineral deposits make it possible to save on the weight of fuel - a stone around the neck of astronautics, which occupies a significant proportion of the mass of any apparatus. If the production of rocket fuel were developed on the Moon, it would be possible to launch large and complex spacecraft assembled from parts delivered from Earth. And assembly on the Moon will be much easier than in low-Earth orbit - and much more reliable.

The technologies existing today make it possible, if not completely, then partially to implement this project. However, any steps in this direction require risk. The investment of huge amounts of money will require research for the necessary minerals, as well as the development, delivery and testing of modules for future lunar bases. And the estimated cost of launching even the initial elements alone can ruin an entire superpower!

Therefore, the colonization of the Moon is not so much the work of scientists and engineers, but of the people of the whole world to achieve such valuable unity. For in the unity of humanity lies the true strength of the Earth.

And even in seemingly long-established theories there are glaring contradictions and obvious errors that are simply hushed up. Let me give you a simple example.

Official physics, which is taught in educational institutions, is very proud of the fact that it knows the relationships between various physical quantities in the form of formulas, which are supposedly reliably supported experimentally. As they say, that’s where we stand...

In particular, in all reference books and textbooks it is stated that between two bodies having masses ( m) And ( M), an attractive force arises ( F), which is directly proportional to the product of these masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance ( R) between them. This relationship is usually presented as the formula "law of universal gravitation":

where is the gravitational constant, equal to approximately 6.6725 × 10 −11 m³/(kg s²).

Let's use this formula to calculate the force of attraction between the Earth and the Moon, as well as between the Moon and the Sun. To do this, we need to substitute the corresponding values ​​from reference books into this formula:

Moon mass - 7.3477×10 22 kg

Mass of the Sun - 1.9891×10 30 kg

Earth mass - 5.9737×10 24 kg

Distance between Earth and Moon = 380,000,000 m

Distance between the Moon and the Sun = 149,000,000,000 m

The force of attraction between the Earth and the Moon = 6.6725 × 10 -11 x 7.3477 × 10 22 x 5.9737 × 10 24 / 380000000 2 = 2.028×10 20 H

The force of attraction between the Moon and the Sun = 6.6725 × 10 -11 x 7.3477 10 22 x 1.9891 10 30 / 149000000000 2 = 4.39×10 20 H

It turns out that the force of attraction of the Moon to the Sun is more than twice (!) more than the gravitational force of the Moon on the Earth! Why then does the Moon fly around the Earth and not around the Sun? Where is the agreement between theory and experimental data?

If you don't believe your eyes, please take a calculator, open the reference books and see for yourself.

According to the formula of “universal gravity” for a given system of three bodies, as soon as the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, it should leave its circular orbit around the Earth, turning into an independent planet with orbital parameters close to the Earth’s. However, the Moon stubbornly “does not notice” the Sun, as if it does not exist at all.

First of all, let's ask ourselves what could be wrong with this formula? There are few options here.

From a mathematical point of view, this formula may be correct, but then the values ​​of its parameters are incorrect.

For example, modern science can make serious mistakes in determining distances in space based on false ideas about the nature and speed of light; or it is incorrect to estimate the masses of celestial bodies using the same purely speculative conclusions Kepler or Laplace, expressed in the form of ratios of orbital sizes, velocities and masses of celestial bodies; or not at all understand the nature of the mass of a macroscopic body, which all physics textbooks talk about very frankly, postulating this property of material objects, regardless of its location and without delving into the reasons for its occurrence.

Also, official science may be wrong about the reason for the existence and principles of action of the force of gravity, which is most likely. For example, if masses do not have an attractive effect (for which, by the way, there are thousands of visual evidence, only they are hushed up), then this “formula of universal gravitation” simply reflects a certain idea expressed by Isaac Newton, which in fact turned out to be false.

You can make a mistake in thousands of different ways, but there is only one truth. And official physics deliberately hides it, otherwise how can one explain the upholding of such an absurd formula?

First and the obvious consequence of the fact that the "gravitational formula" does not work is the fact that the Earth has no dynamic response to the Moon. Simply put, two such large and close celestial bodies, one of which is only four times smaller in diameter than the other, should (according to the views of modern physics) rotate around a common center of mass - the so-called. barycenter. However, the Earth rotates strictly around its axis, and even the ebbs and flows in the seas and oceans have absolutely nothing to do with the position of the Moon in the sky.

The Moon is associated with a number of absolutely blatant facts of inconsistencies with the established views of classical physics, which are in the literature and the Internet bashfully are called "lunar anomalies".

The most obvious anomaly is the exact coincidence of the period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth and around its axis, which is why it always faces the Earth with one side. There are many reasons for these periods to become increasingly out of sync with each orbit of the Moon around the Earth.

For example, no one would argue that the Earth and the Moon are two ideal spheres with a uniform distribution of mass inside. From the point of view of official physics, it is quite obvious that the movement of the Moon should be significantly influenced not only by the relative position of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun, but even by the passages of Mars and Venus during periods of maximum convergence of their orbits with the Earth’s. The experience of space flights in near-Earth orbit shows that it is possible to achieve lunar-type stabilization only if constantly taxi orientation micromotors. But what and how does the Moon steer? And most importantly - for what?

This “anomaly” looks even more discouraging against the backdrop of the little-known fact that official science has not yet developed an acceptable explanation trajectories, along which the Moon moves around the Earth. Moon orbit not at all circular or even elliptical. Strange curve, which the Moon describes above our heads, is consistent only with a long list of statistical parameters set out in the corresponding tables.

These data were collected on the basis of long-term observations, but not on the basis of any calculations. It is thanks to these data that it is possible to predict certain events with great accuracy, for example, solar or lunar eclipses, the maximum approach or distance of the Moon relative to the Earth, etc.

So, exactly on this strange trajectory The Moon manages to be turned to the Earth with only one side all the time!

Of course, this is not all.

Turns out, Earth does not move in orbit around the Sun not at a uniform speed, as official physics would like, but makes small slowdowns and jerks forward in the direction of its movement, which are synchronized with the corresponding position of the Moon. However, the Earth does not make any movements to the sides perpendicular to the direction of its orbit, despite the fact that the Moon can be on any side of the Earth in the plane of its orbit.

Official physics not only does not undertake to describe or explain these processes - it is about them he's just keeping silent! This semi-monthly cycle of globe jerking correlates perfectly with statistical earthquake peaks, but where and when did you hear about it?

Did you know that in the Earth-Moon system of cosmic bodies there are no libration points, predicted by Lagrange on the basis of the law of “universal gravitation”?

The fact is that the Moon’s gravitational region does not exceed the distance 10 000 km from its surface. There is a lot of obvious evidence of this fact. Suffice it to recall geostationary satellites, which are not affected by the position of the Moon in any way, or the scientific and satirical story with the Smart-1 probe from ESA, with the help of which they were going to casually photograph the Apollo lunar landing sites back in 2003-2005.

Probe "Smart-1" was created as an experimental spacecraft with low ion thrust engines, but with a long operating time. Mission ESA the gradual acceleration of the apparatus, launched into a circular orbit around the Earth, was envisaged in order to, moving along a spiral trajectory with an increase in altitude, reach the inner libration point of the Earth-Moon system. According to the predictions of official physics, starting from this moment, the probe was supposed to change its trajectory, moving to a high lunar orbit, and begin a long braking maneuver, gradually narrowing the spiral around the Moon.

But everything would be fine if official physics and the calculations made with its help corresponded to reality. In fact, after reaching the libration point, “Smart-1” continued its flight in an unwinding spiral, and on the next orbits it did not even think about reacting to the approaching Moon.

From that moment on, an amazing event began around the flight of Smart-1. conspiracy of silence and outright misinformation, until the trajectory of its flight finally allowed it to simply crash on the surface of the Moon, which official popular science Internet resources hastened to report under the appropriate information sauce as a great achievement of modern science, which suddenly decided to “change” the mission of the device and, with all his might, smash tens of millions of foreign currency money spent on the project onto the lunar dust.

Naturally, on the last orbit of its flight, the Smart-1 probe finally entered the lunar gravitational region, but it would not have been able to slow down to enter a low lunar orbit using its low-power engine. The calculations of European ballisticians entered into a striking contradiction with real reality.

And such cases in deep space exploration are by no means isolated, but are repeated with enviable regularity, starting from the first attempts to hit the Moon or send probes to the satellites of Mars, ending with the latest attempts to enter orbit around asteroids or comets, the force of gravity of which is completely absent even at their surfaces.

But then the reader should have a completely legitimate question: How did the rocket and space industry of the USSR in the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century manage to explore the Moon with the help of automatic vehicles, being in captivity of false scientific views? How did Soviet ballisticians calculate the correct flight path to the Moon and back, if one of the most basic formulas of modern physics turns out to be a fiction? Finally, how in the 21st century are the orbits of automatic lunar satellites that take close photographs and scans of the Moon calculated?

Very simple! As in all other cases, when practice shows a discrepancy with physical theories, His Majesty comes into play Experience, which suggests the correct solution to a particular problem. After a series of completely natural failures, empirically ballistics found some correction factors for certain stages of flights to the Moon and other cosmic bodies, which are entered into on-board computers of modern automatic probes and space navigation systems.

And everything works! But most importantly, there is an opportunity to trumpet to the whole world about another victory of world science, and then to teach gullible children and students the formula of “universal gravity,” which has no more to do with reality than Baron Munchausen’s cocked hat has to do with his epic exploits.

And if suddenly a certain inventor comes up with yet another idea for a new method of transportation in space, there is nothing easier than declaring him a charlatan on the simple grounds that his calculations contradict the same notorious formula of “universal gravity”... Commissions for Combating Pseudoscience at the Academies of Sciences of Various countries work tirelessly.

This is a prison, comrades. A large planetary prison with a slight touch of science to neutralize particularly zealous individuals who dare to be smart. For the rest, it’s enough to get married so that, following Karel Capek’s apt remark, their autobiography ends...

By the way, all the parameters of the trajectories and orbits of “manned flights” from NASA to the Moon in 1969-1972 were calculated and published precisely on the basis of assumptions about the existence of libration points and the fulfillment of the law of universal gravitation for the Earth-Moon system. Doesn’t this alone explain why all programs for manned exploration of the Moon after the 70s of the twentieth century were rolled up? What is easier: to quietly move away from the topic or to admit to falsifying all of physics?

Finally, the Moon has a number of amazing phenomena called "optical anomalies". These anomalies are so out of step with official physics that it is preferable to remain silent about them completely, replacing interest in them with the supposedly constantly recorded activity of UFOs on the surface of the Moon.

With the help of fabrications from the yellow press, fake photos and videos about flying saucers supposedly constantly moving over the Moon and huge alien structures on its surface, the behind-the-scenes masters are trying to cover it up with information noise. truly fantastic reality of the moon, which should definitely be mentioned in this work.

The most obvious and visual optical anomaly of the Moon is visible to all earthlings with the naked eye, so one can only be surprised that almost no one pays attention to it. See what the Moon looks like in a clear night sky at full moon moments? She looks like flat a round body (such as a coin), but not like a ball!

A spherical body with quite significant irregularities on its surface, if illuminated by a light source located behind the observer, should glow to the greatest extent closer to its center, and as it approaches the edge of the ball, the luminosity should gradually decrease.

This is probably the most famous law of optics, which sounds like this: “The angle of incidence of a ray is equal to the angle of its reflection.” But this rule does not apply to the Moon. For reasons unknown to official physics, rays of light hitting the edge of the lunar ball are reflected... back to the Sun, which is why we see the Moon on a full moon as a kind of coin, but not as a ball.

Even more confusion in our minds introduces an equally obvious observable thing - a constant value of the luminosity level of the illuminated areas of the Moon for an observer from Earth. Simply put, if we assume that the Moon has a certain property of directional scattering of light, then we have to admit that the reflection of light changes its angle depending on the position of the Sun-Earth-Moon system. No one can dispute the fact that even the narrow crescent of the young Moon gives a luminosity exactly the same as the corresponding central section of the half Moon. This means that the Moon somehow controls the angle of reflection of the sun's rays so that they are always reflected from its surface towards the Earth!

But when the full moon comes, Luminosity of the Moon increases abruptly. This means that the surface of the Moon miraculously splits the reflected light into two main directions - towards the Sun and the Earth. This leads to another startling conclusion: The Moon is virtually invisible to an observer from space, which is not located on straight lines Earth-Moon or Sun-Moon. Who and why needed to hide the Moon in space in the optical range?...

To understand what the joke was, Soviet laboratories spent a lot of time on optical experiments with lunar soil delivered to Earth by the Luna-16, Luna-20 and Luna-24 automatic devices. However, the parameters of the reflection of light, including solar light, from the lunar soil fit well into all known canons of optics. The lunar soil on Earth did not at all want to show the wonders that we see on the Moon. It turns out that Materials on the Moon and on Earth behave differently?

Quite possible. After all, as far as I know, a non-oxidizable film thickness of several iron atoms on the surface of any objects, as far as I know, has not yet been obtained in terrestrial laboratories...

Photos from the Moon, transmitted by Soviet and American machine guns that managed to land on its surface, added fuel to the fire. Imagine the surprise of the scientists of that time when all the photographs on the Moon were obtained strictly black and white- without a single hint of the rainbow spectrum so familiar to us.

If only the lunar landscape was photographed, evenly strewn with dust from meteorite explosions, this could somehow be understood. But it even turned out black and white calibration color plate on the body of the lander! Any color on the surface of the Moon turns into a corresponding gradation of gray, which is impartially recorded by all photographs of the surface of the Moon transmitted by automatic devices of different generations and missions to this day.

Now imagine what a deep... puddle the Americans are sitting in with their white-blue-red Stars and stripes, allegedly photographed on the surface of the Moon by the valiant “pioneer” astronauts.

(By the way, their color pictures And video recordings indicate that Americans generally go there Nothing never sent! - Red.).

Tell me, if you were in their place, would you try very hard to resume exploration of the Moon and get to its surface at least with the help of some kind of “pendo-descent”, knowing that the images or videos will only turn out in black and white? Unless you quickly paint them, like old films... But, damn it, what colors should you paint pieces of rocks, local stones or steep mountain slopes with!?

By the way, very similar problems awaited NASA on Mars. All researchers have probably already set their teeth on edge by the murky story with the color discrepancy, or more precisely, with a clear shift of the entire Martian visible spectrum on its surface to the red side. When NASA employees are suspected of deliberately distorting images from Mars (allegedly hiding the blue sky, green carpets of lawns, blue lakes, crawling locals...), I urge you to remember the Moon...

Think, maybe they just act on different planets different physical laws? Then a lot of things immediately fall into place!

But let's return to the Moon for now. Let's finish with the list of optical anomalies, and then move on to the next sections of Lunar Wonders.

A ray of light passing near the surface of the Moon receives significant variations in direction, which is why modern astronomy cannot even calculate the time required for the stars to cover the Moon’s body.

Official science does not express any ideas why this happens, except for the wildly delusional electrostatic reasons for the movement of lunar dust at high altitudes above its surface or the activity of certain lunar volcanoes, which deliberately emit dust that refracts light exactly in the place where observations are being made. given star. And so, in fact, no one has observed lunar volcanoes yet.

As is known, terrestrial science is able to collect information about the chemical composition of distant celestial bodies through the study of molecular spectra radiation-absorption. So, for the celestial body closest to the Earth - the Moon - this is a way to determine the chemical composition of the surface doesn't work! The lunar spectrum is practically devoid of bands that can provide information about the composition of the Moon.

The only reliable information about the chemical composition of lunar regolith was obtained, as is known, from the study of samples taken by the Soviet Luna probes. But even now, when it is possible to scan the surface of the Moon from low lunar orbit using automatic devices, reports of the presence of a particular chemical substance on its surface are extremely contradictory. Even on Mars there is much more information.

And about one more amazing optical feature of the lunar surface. This property is a consequence of the unique backscattering of light with which I began my story about the optical anomalies of the Moon. So, practically all the light falling on the moon reflected towards the Sun and Earth.

Let's remember that at night, under appropriate conditions, we can perfectly see the part of the Moon not illuminated by the Sun, which, in principle, should be completely black, if not for... the secondary illumination of the Earth! The Earth, being illuminated by the Sun, reflects part of the sunlight towards the Moon. And all this light that illuminates the shadow of the Moon, returns back to Earth!

From here it is completely logical to assume that on the surface of the Moon, even on the side illuminated by the Sun, twilight reigns all the time. This guess is perfectly confirmed by photographs of the lunar surface taken by Soviet lunar rovers. Look at them carefully if you have the chance; for everything that can be obtained. They were made in direct sunlight without the influence of atmospheric distortions, but they look as if the contrast of the black and white picture was increased in the earthly twilight.

Under such conditions, shadows from objects on the surface of the Moon should be completely black, illuminated only by nearby stars and planets, the level of illumination from which is many orders of magnitude lower than that of the sun. This means that it is not possible to see an object located on the Moon in the shadow using any known optical means.

To summarize the optical phenomena of the Moon, we give the floor to an independent researcher A.A. Grishaev, the author of a book about the “digital” physical world, who, developing his ideas, points out in another article:

“Taking into account the fact of the presence of these phenomena provides new, damning arguments in support of those who believe fakes film and photographic materials that allegedly indicate the presence of American astronauts on the surface of the Moon. After all, we provide the keys for conducting the simplest and merciless independent examination.

If we are shown, against the background of lunar landscapes flooded with sunlight (!), astronauts whose spacesuits do not have black shadows on the anti-solar side, or a well-lit figure of an astronaut in the shadow of the “lunar module,” or color (!) footage with a colorful rendering of the colors of the American flag, then that's all irrefutable evidence screaming of falsification.

In fact, we are not aware of any film or photographic documentation depicting astronauts on the Moon under real lunar lighting and with a real lunar color “palette”.

And then he continues:

“The physical conditions on the Moon are too abnormal, and it cannot be ruled out that the cislunar space is destructive for terrestrial organisms. Today we know the only model that explains the short-term effect of lunar gravity, and at the same time the origin of accompanying anomalous optical phenomena - this is our “unsteady space” model.

And if this model is correct, then the vibrations of “unsteady space” below a certain height above the surface of the Moon are quite capable of breaking weak bonds in protein molecules - with the destruction of their tertiary and, possibly, secondary structures.

As far as we know, turtles returned alive from cislunar space on board the Soviet Zond-5 spacecraft, which flew around the Moon with a minimum distance from its surface of about 2000 km. It is possible that with the passage of the apparatus closer to the Moon, the animals would have died as a result of the denaturation of proteins in their bodies. If it is very difficult to protect yourself from cosmic radiation, but still possible, then there is no physical protection from vibrations of “unsteady space.”

The above excerpt is only a small part of the work, the original of which I strongly recommend that you read on the author’s website

I also like that the lunar expedition was reshot in good quality. And it’s true, it was disgusting to watch. It's the 21st century after all. So welcome, in HD quality, “Sleigh rides on Maslenitsa.”

The Moon is a satellite of our planet, which has attracted the attention of scientists and simply curious people since time immemorial. In the ancient world, both astrologers and astronomers devoted impressive treatises to it. Poets also did not lag behind them. Today, in this sense, little has changed: the orbit of the Moon, the features of its surface and interior are carefully studied by astronomers. Horoscope compilers also do not take their eyes off her. The influence of the satellite on the Earth is studied by both. Astronomers are studying how the interaction of two cosmic bodies affects the movement and other processes of each. During the study of the Moon, knowledge in this area has increased significantly.

Origin

According to scientists' research, the Earth and the Moon were formed at approximately the same time. Both bodies are 4.5 billion years old. There are several theories about the origin of the satellite. Each of them explains certain features of the Moon, but leaves several unresolved questions. The theory of a giant collision is considered to be the closest to the truth today.

According to the hypothesis, a planet similar in size to Mars collided with the young Earth. The impact was tangential and caused the ejection of most of the substance of this cosmic body into space, as well as some amount of terrestrial “material”. From this substance a new object was formed. The radius of the Moon's orbit was originally sixty thousand kilometers.

The giant collision hypothesis well explains many features of the structure and chemical composition of the satellite, and most of the characteristics of the Moon-Earth system. However, if we take the theory as a basis, some facts still remain unclear. Thus, the deficiency of iron on the satellite can only be explained by the fact that by the time of the collision, differentiation of the internal layers had occurred on both bodies. To date, there is no evidence that this happened. And yet, despite such counterarguments, the giant impact hypothesis is considered the main one throughout the world.

Options

The Moon, like most other satellites, has no atmosphere. Only traces of oxygen, helium, neon and argon were detected. The surface temperature in illuminated and darkened areas is therefore very different. On the sunny side it can rise to +120 ºС, and on the dark side it can drop to -160 ºС.

The average distance between the Earth and the Moon is 384 thousand km. The shape of the satellite is almost a perfect sphere. The difference between the equatorial and polar radius is small. They are 1738.14 and 1735.97 km respectively.

A full revolution of the Moon around the Earth takes just over 27 days. The movement of a satellite across the sky for an observer is characterized by a change of phases. The time from one full moon to another is slightly longer than the indicated period and is approximately 29.5 days. The difference arises because the Earth and satellite also move around the Sun. The moon has to travel a little more than one circle to be in its original position.

Earth-Moon system

The Moon is a satellite that is somewhat different from other similar objects. Its main feature in this sense is its mass. It is estimated at 7.35 * 10 22 kg, which is approximately 1/81 of that of the Earth. And if the mass itself is not something out of the ordinary in outer space, then its relationship with the characteristics of the planet is atypical. As a rule, the mass ratio in satellite-planet systems is somewhat smaller. Only Pluto and Charon can boast of a similar ratio. These two cosmic bodies some time ago began to be characterized as a system of two planets. It seems that this designation is also true in the case of the Earth and the Moon.

Movement of the Moon in orbit

The satellite makes one revolution around the planet relative to the stars in a sidereal month, which lasts 27 days, 7 hours and 42.2 minutes. The orbit of the Moon is an ellipse in shape. At different periods, the satellite is located either closer to the planet or further from it. The distance between the Earth and the Moon varies from 363,104 to 405,696 kilometers.

The trajectory of the satellite is associated with another piece of evidence in favor of the assumption that the Earth and the satellite must be considered as a system consisting of two planets. The Moon's orbit is not located near the equatorial plane of the Earth (as is typical for most satellites), but practically in the plane of rotation of the planet around the Sun. The angle between the ecliptic and the satellite’s trajectory is slightly more than 5º.

The Moon's orbit around the Earth is influenced by many factors. In this regard, determining the exact trajectory of the satellite is not the easiest task.

A little history

The theory explaining how the Moon moves was laid down back in 1747. The author of the first calculations, which brought scientists closer to understanding the peculiarities of the satellite’s orbit, was the French mathematician Clairaut. Then, back in the eighteenth century, the revolution of the Moon around the Earth was often put forward as an argument against Newton's theory. Calculations made using it differed greatly from the apparent movement of the satellite. Clairaut solved this problem.

The issue was studied by such famous scientists as d'Alembert and Laplace, Euler, Hill, Puiseau and others. The modern theory of lunar revolution actually began with the work of Brown (1923). The research of the British mathematician and astronomer helped eliminate the discrepancies between calculations and observation.

Not an easy task

The movement of the Moon consists of two main processes: rotation around its axis and revolution around our planet. It would not be so difficult to derive a theory to explain the movement of the satellite if its orbit were not affected by various factors. This is the attraction of the Sun, and the peculiarities of the shape of the Earth and other planets. Such influences disturb the orbit and predicting the exact position of the Moon at a particular period becomes a difficult task. In order to understand what’s going on here, let’s look at some parameters of the satellite’s orbit.

Ascending and descending node, apsidal line

As already mentioned, the Moon's orbit is inclined to the ecliptic. The trajectories of two bodies intersect at points called the ascending and descending nodes. They are located on opposite sides of the orbit relative to the center of the system, that is, the Earth. The imaginary straight line that connects these two points is designated as a line of nodes.

The satellite is closest to our planet at the perigee point. The maximum distance separates two cosmic bodies is when the Moon is at its apogee. The straight line connecting these two points is called the apse line.

Orbital disturbances

As a result of the influence of a large number of factors on the movement of the satellite at once, it essentially represents the sum of several movements. Let us consider the most noticeable disturbances that arise.

The first one is node line regression. The straight line connecting the two points of intersection of the plane of the lunar orbit and the ecliptic is not fixed in one place. It moves very slowly in the direction opposite (which is why it is called regression) to the movement of the satellite. In other words, the plane of the Moon's orbit rotates in space. It takes her 18.6 years to complete one full revolution.

The line of apses is also moving. The movement of the straight line connecting the apocenter and periapsis is expressed in the rotation of the orbital plane in the same direction in which the Moon is moving. This happens much faster than in the case of a line of nodes. A full revolution takes 8.9 years.

In addition, the lunar orbit experiences fluctuations of a certain amplitude. Over time, the angle between its plane and the ecliptic changes. The range of values ​​is from 4°59" to 5°17". Just as in the case of the line of nodes, the period of such fluctuations is 18.6 years.

Finally, the Moon's orbit changes its shape. It stretches out a little, then returns to its original configuration. In this case, the eccentricity of the orbit (the degree of deviation of its shape from a circle) changes from 0.04 to 0.07. Changes and return to the original position take 8.9 years.

Not so simple

In fact, four factors that need to be taken into account during calculations are not that many. However, they do not exhaust all disturbances in the satellite's orbit. In fact, each parameter of the Moon's movement is constantly influenced by a large number of factors. All this complicates the task of predicting the exact location of the satellite. And taking into account all these parameters is often the most important task. For example, calculating the trajectory of the Moon and its accuracy affects the success of the mission of the spacecraft sent to it.

The influence of the Moon on the Earth

The satellite of our planet is relatively small, but its influence is clearly visible. Perhaps everyone knows that it is the Moon that forms the tides on Earth. Here we must immediately make a reservation: the Sun also causes a similar effect, but due to the much greater distance, the tidal influence of the luminary is little noticeable. In addition, changes in water levels in the seas and oceans are also associated with the peculiarities of the rotation of the Earth itself.

The gravitational effect of the Sun on our planet is approximately two hundred times greater than that of the Moon. However, tidal forces primarily depend on the inhomogeneity of the field. The distance separating the Earth and the Sun smooths them out, so the influence of the Moon close to us is more powerful (twice as much as in the case of the luminary).

A tidal wave forms on the side of the planet that is this moment facing the night star. There is also a tide on the opposite side. If the Earth were motionless, then the wave would move from west to east, located exactly under the Moon. Its full revolution would be completed in just over 27 days, that is, in a sidereal month. However, the period around the axis is slightly less than 24 hours. As a result, the wave runs along the surface of the planet from east to west and completes one revolution in 24 hours and 48 minutes. Since the wave constantly encounters the continents, it moves forward in the direction of the Earth's movement and is ahead of the planet's satellite in its run.

Removing the Moon's orbit

A tidal wave causes the movement of a huge mass of water. This directly affects the motion of the satellite. An impressive part of the planet's mass is displaced from the line connecting the two bodies, and attracts the Moon towards itself. As a result, the satellite experiences a moment of force, which accelerates its movement.

At the same time, continents running into a tidal wave (they move faster than the wave, since the Earth rotates at a higher speed than the Moon rotates) experience a force that slows them down. This leads to a gradual slowdown in the rotation of our planet.

As a result of the tidal interaction of the two bodies, as well as the action and angular momentum, the satellite moves to a higher orbit. At the same time, the speed of the Moon decreases. It begins to move slower in orbit. Something similar is happening with the Earth. It slows down, resulting in a gradual increase in the length of the day.

The Moon is moving away from the Earth by about 38 mm per year. Research by paleontologists and geologists confirms the calculations of astronomers. The process of the gradual slowing down of the Earth and the removal of the Moon began approximately 4.5 billion years ago, that is, from the moment the two bodies were formed. Researchers' data support the assumption that previously the lunar month was shorter and the Earth rotated at a faster speed.

A tidal wave occurs not only in the waters of the world's oceans. Similar processes occur in the mantle and in the earth's crust. However, they are less noticeable because these layers are not as malleable.

The removal of the Moon and the slowing down of the Earth will not happen forever. Eventually, the planet's rotation period will become equal to the satellite's rotation period. The moon will “hover” over one area of ​​the surface. The earth and the satellite will always face the same side towards each other. It is appropriate to remember here that part of this process has already been completed. It is tidal interaction that has led to the fact that the same side of the Moon is always visible in the sky. In space there is an example of a system in such equilibrium. These are already called Pluto and Charon.

The Moon and Earth are in constant interaction. It is impossible to say which body influences the other more. At the same time, both are exposed to the sun. Other, more distant, cosmic bodies also play a significant role. Taking into account all such factors makes it quite difficult to accurately construct and describe a model of the motion of a satellite in orbit around our planet. However, a huge amount of accumulated knowledge, as well as constantly improving equipment, make it possible to more or less accurately predict the position of the satellite at any time and predict the future that awaits each object individually and the Earth-Moon system as a whole.