Book of the Moon: A Guide to Our Closest Neighbor - Hardcover

Aderin-Pocock, Maggie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1419738496 ISBN 13: 9781419738494

Verlag: ABRAMS, 2019

Inhaltsangabe

In The Book of the Moon, her lucidly written, comprehensive guide to Earth’s satellite, space scientist Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock takes readers on a journey to our closest celestial neighbor, exploring folklore, facts, and future plans.

Have you ever wondered if there are seasons on the moon or if space tourism will ever become commonplace? So has Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock. In fact, she earned her nickname “Lunatic” because of her deep fascination for all things lunar.

Beginning with the basics, Aderin-Pocock unpacks everything from the moon’s topography and composition to its formation and orbit around the Earth. She travels back in time to track humanity’s relationship with the moon—beliefs held by ancient civilizations, the technology that allowed for the first moon landing, a brief history of moongazing, and how the moon has influenced culture throughout the years—and then to the future, analyzing the pros and cons of continued space travel and exploration.

Throughout the book are sidebars, graphs, and charts to enhance the facts as well as black-and-white illustrations of the moon and stars.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock is an honorary research associate in University College London’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. She is widely recognized as the BBC’s “face of space,” presenting The Sky at Night to nearly 500,000 weekly viewers. With a degree in physics from Imperial College and a PhD in mechanical engineering, she has worked as a space scientist for many years and now tours the UK speaking to inner-city schools and inspiring the next generation of physicists. In 2006, she was one of six “Women of Outstanding Achievement” winners with GetSET Women.

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Have you ever wondered if there are seasons on the moon or if space tourism will ever become commonplace? So has Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock. In fact, she earned her nickname "Lunatic" because of her deep fascination for all things lunar. In her lucidly written, comprehensive guide to the moon, Aderin-Pocock takes readers on a journey to our closest celestial neighbor, exploring folklore, facts, and future plans.She begins with the basics, unpacking everything from the moon's topography and composition to its formation and orbit around the Earth. She travels back in time to track humanity's relationship with the moon -- beliefs held by ancient civilizations, the technology that allowed for the first moon landing, a brief history of moongazing, and how the moon has influenced culture throughout the years -- and then to the future, analyzing the pros and cons of continued space travel and exploration. Throughout the book are sidebars, graphs, and charts to enhance the facts as well as black-and-white illustrations of the moon and stars. The Book of the Moon will be published for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

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The Book of the Moon

A Guide to Our Closest Neighbor

By Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Michael Sand

Abrams Books

Copyright © 2018 Maggie Aderin-Pocock
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4197-3849-4

Contents

Introduction: Why Be a Lunatic?, 1, 
My Father, the Moon and Me, 3, 
Beyond Borders, 12, 
An Iconic Influence, 15, 
Moon 101: The Basics, 19, 
Why Is the Moon Called the Moon?, 20, 
The Moon's Physical Characteristics, 22, 
The Lunar Landscape, 25, 
What Lies Beneath, 30, 
An Alien Environment, 35, 
How Was the Moon Formed?, 47, 
Libration: Seeing What Lies Behind, 55, 
Moon Past: The Moon in Our Culture, 59, 
A Brief History of Moongazing, 60, 
Five People, 64, 
Five Places, 73, 
Five Artefacts, 78, 
Five Poems, 83, 
Five Folktales and Science Fiction Stories, 89, 
Five Works of Art, 101, 
Moon Present: A Sharper Focus, 107, 
The Raw Power of the Moon, 108, 
Observing the Moon, 135, 
The Moon with the Naked Eye, 139, 
Lunar Highlights with Binoculars, 161, 
Lunar Highlights with an Amateur Telescope, 164, 
Reaching for the Moon: the Moon Landings and the Space Race, 169, 
Current Missions to the Moon: the Last Ten Years, 182, 
Moon Future: What Lies Ahead?, 189, 
When Will We Return to the Moon?, 190, 
The Future of Science on the Moon, 192, 
The Future of Commerce on the Moon, 199, 
Proposed Moon Bases, 206, 
Who Owns the Moon?, 214, 
Moon, Mars and Beyond?, 217, 
Conclusion: Looking Outwards, 219, 
Acknowledgements, 221, 
Index, 223, 

CHAPTER 1

MOON 101:

THE BASICS

THE MOON has fascinated humankind since the beginning of history and has long captured our imagination. After years of investigation and scientific progress, we now know much more about the science of the Moon – such as what it is made of and, at least in theory, how it was formed.

So let's begin by getting to grips with the scientific fundamentals of the Moon. The term '101' is used in some universities and colleges around the world to indicate that a course is an introduction to the subject and requires no previous knowledge, which is precisely the case here. There will be times when the science gets complex but I can assure you, by the end of this chapter, you'll have a firm foundation for everything you need to know. And what better place to start than with its name?

WHY IS THE MOON CALLED THE MOON?

It seems like an odd question; what else would it be called? But in the past our partner through the solar system has had a number of different names. To the Romans it was Luna (or 'lunar' in English); she was the goddess that personified the Moon and this term is still used today. The Greek version, Selena, was the name of their Moon goddess. You still hear it around as a girl's name although it is less associated with the Moon these days.

It might come as a surprise but giving the Moon its official name was actually one of the first things that was done by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) when it came into existence in 1919. The members did this because they wanted 'to standardise the multiple, confusing systems of nomenclature for the Moon that were then in use'.

The reason why they went for the somewhat basic name 'Moon' rather than something more exotic was because the name had already been in use for millennia, and in a range of different languages. Given the IAU was a newly formed organisation, it probably seemed like a good idea not to rock the boat too much on its first outing.

But, of course, it's a slightly confusing choice because ours is not the only moon. In the past, as we looked out into the solar system, we realised that there were many planets with moons orbiting them. In fact, we are still discovering more moons out there as we explore further into space. Although they are, fundamentally, all just called moons, we came up with more interesting naming systems for these satellites, often related to the name of the planet they orbit.

The planet Jupiter, for example, is named after the head honcho of the Roman deities. Jupiter was the god of sky and thunder and by all accounts a bit of a lad. Jupiter's largest moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – are named after his Greek counterpart Zeus's sexual conquests, which is one way of achieving immortality, I suppose. But names have been given to just 53 of Jupiter's 69 moons.

For the planet Mars, named after the Roman god of war, things were kept simple: it only has two moons so they were named after Deimos and Phobos, the sons of the Greek equivalent of the god of war, Ares.

The planet Saturn, named after the Roman god of agriculture, has many, varied moons. To date, 62 have been confirmed but only 53 have been named. The Greek theme continued here with the moons being named after Greek mythological figures. But by the time moons were spotted around Uranus the classical naming system had been dropped and characters from Shakespeare's plays and a poem by Alexander Pope were chosen instead.

Interestingly, the word 'moon' seems to stem from an old English word derived from the Germanic word menon, which in turn is thought to come from an Indo-European word, menses, meaning 'month' or 'moon'. So Moon seems like an appropriate term that has origins from across the world. Well, in English, it works for me.

THE MOON'S PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Moon is an almost spherical lump of rock, gravitationally tethered to the Earth with an elliptical orbit (which means its path around the Earth is oval-shaped rather than a round circle). I say an almost spherical object because the Moon, like the Earth and many of the planets, is oblated, which means it is a slightly squashed sphere with the pole-to-pole distance being shorter (in this case only about 2km shorter) than the equatorial diameter.

The table below sets out some facts about the Moon to get us started:

Parameter (unit) Value

Average distance to Earth (km) 385,000 (239,000 miles)
Axial tilt (degrees) 1.5
Rotational period (Earth days) 27.32
Orbital period (Earth days) 27.32
Maximum Temp (°C) 120 (248°F)
Minimum Temp (°C) –247(–413°F)

These facts are all very well and give us a good starting point for understanding the Moon. Yet I think it is easier to describe its characteristics relative to something with which we're already very familiar: the planet we live on. So the table below highlights some other characteristics of the Moon and gives an indication of how these key measurements compare to the Earth:

Compared
Parameter (unit) Value to Earth

Average diameter (km) 3,474 (2,159 miles) 27%
Volume (km3) 21.9 billion 2%
Surface area (km2) 37.9 million 7.4%
Mass (kg) 7.35 x 1022 1.2%
Density (kg/m3), 344 60%
Gravity (m/s2) 1.6 16.7%

Now let's look at some of these characteristics in more detail.

Size Matters

Compared with the Earth, the Moon is actually very small, having around a quarter of the diameter of our planet. This small diameter means that the Earth has a volume nearly 50 times that of the Moon.

The surface area of the Moon is...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: ABRAMS
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1419738496
• ISBN 13: 9781419738494
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 240
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: HCM Kinzel GmbH; 49070469820; info@hcm-kinzel.eu; ; Felix-Wankel-Str. 9/1; Zaberfeld; D-74374; Deutschland