Buzz
I'm sure you're aware, the first words spoken by a human while standing on the Moon have now become iconic. Those words are “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But do you know what the second astronaut on the Moon said?
'Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation!' Astronaut Buzz Aldrin of NASA expressed his astonishment when stepping onto the Moon.
Indeed, the lunar surface is a harsh environment, devoid of atmosphere, a world with temperatures soaring up to 121 degrees Celsius and plummeting to -133 degrees Celsius at the equator. NASA has even recorded temperatures of -246 degrees Celsius within permanently shadowed lunar craters.
However, the desolate moon harbors surprising discoveries and mysteries yet to be unveiled. Below are some intriguing facts about the Moon that you may not know.
The moon is gradually drifting away from Earth
Our natural satellite is approximately 384,400 km away from Earth, but it's gradually drifting even farther away, moving about 2.5 cm further each year.
Energy from Earth's rotation is transmitted to the moon, pushing it farther away. This gradual distancing will continue for billions of years. It means that one day the moon will be about 160,000 km or more further away from Earth in about 5 billion years, when our sun expands and dies. Perhaps by then, we won't know if humanity still exists on Earth.The moon experiences earthquakes and tremors
The moon undergoes seismic activity, also known as 'moonquakes'. If Earth has earthquakes, then the moon has moonquakes. The first recorded moonquake was detected by seismometers left on the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts. These instruments have recorded over 13,000 moonquakes, some of which were quite strong, around 5 on the Richter scale.
Scientists studying planetary bodies suspect that the moon's shrinking is causing these moonquakes. This can be likened to a grape wrinkling as it shrivels into a raisin. The moon also wrinkles as it shrinks. Unlike the skin of a grape, the moon's surface crust is brittle, so it breaks as the moon shrinks, creating 'thrust faults' where part of the crust is pushed up over adjacent areas.Moon dust poses significant dangers
While on the Moon, NASA encountered a significant issue with lunar dust. This type of dust clogs machinery, infiltrates equipment, causing heat exchangers to overheat, and even tears astronauts' spacesuits. And if inhaled, lunar dust can damage lungs because it's very fine, abrasive, and sharp, akin to tiny shards of glass, making it more than just a nuisance like dust on Earth.
This is because, unlike on Earth, the soil and rocks on the lunar surface are not smoothed and eroded by water and wind. Therefore, the environment on the Moon is a hazardous one. As NASA prepares to return astronauts to the Moon with its Artemis program, the agency is working to minimize the damage caused by lunar dust to surface exploration vehicles, spacesuits, power systems, and various equipment. Dust will be an environmental challenge for future missions, both inside and outside habitats.Astronauts have left behind intriguing objects on the moon
The moon serves as both a museum and a junkyard. Explorers visiting the moon have left behind various objects, often unnecessary. Here are some examples:- Human waste: There are 96 bags of human feces on the moon.
- Human ashes: NASA's Lunar Prospector probe carried the ashes of astronaut Eugene M. Shoemaker to the moon in a protected box in 1999.
- Golf balls: Astronaut Alan Shepard took several golf balls to the moon and hit them on the lunar surface.
- Feather and hammer experiment: Televised live in 1971, Apollo 15 Commander David Scott simultaneously dropped a feather and a hammer. Because they were essentially in a vacuum, devoid of air resistance, the feather fell at the same rate as the hammer, as Galileo had concluded centuries earlier – all objects released together fall at the same rate regardless of mass.
Geologists suspect that an object named 'Theia', once a smaller planet, collided with early Earth. Earth absorbed most of Theia, and the remaining part accumulated to form the Moon as we know it today.It appears that the colored spots inside Earth (blobs) are remnants of a planetary-scale collision that later formed our Moon. In other words, the gigantic blobs currently within Earth, deep beneath our feet, belong to outside Earth.
