THE MOON

ITS SURFACE AND IT’S PHASES

NAME - ADIT YA KAPOOR

CLASS - VIII-A
ROLL NO.- 07
 The Moon
 The Moon is an ellipsoidal
astronomical
body that orbits the Earth as its
only natural satellite .
 It has a rocky silicate composition and is
of planetary mass but has no significant
atmosphere, hydrosphere or magnetic field.
 Its surface gravity is 0.1654 g, about one-
sixth of Earth's.
 SURFACE
• The moon's surface is covered with dead
volcanoes, impact craters, and lava flows,
some visible to the unaided stargazer.
• Early in the moon's history, the interior was
molten enough to produce volcanoes, though
it quickly cooled and hardened.
• The moon's surface shows plenty of evidence
of asteroids.
• The crust of the moon is made up of a rocky
surface covered with regolith.
• The crust of the moon is about 38 to 63 miles
(60 to 100 kilometers) thick.
• The outer core may extend as far out as 310
miles (500 km). But the small inner core only
makes up about 20 percent of the moon,
compared to the 50 percent core of other
rocky bodies.
• Most of the interior of the moon is made up of
the lithosphere, which is about 620 miles
(1,000 km) thick.
• As this region melted early in the lunar life, it
supplied the magma necessary to create lava
plains on the surface.
• However, over time, the magma cooled and
solidified, thus ending volcanism on the moon.
• Earth's moon is the second-densest moon in
the solar system, beaten by Jupiter's moon, Io.
• The separation of its interior into layers was
likely caused by the crystallization of a magma
ocean shortly after its formation.
 PHASES
• There are eight distinct phases every month,
four of them occurring roughly a week apart.
• They are: the New Moon; Waxng
Crescent; First Quarter (or half-full; Waxing
Gibbous; Full Moon; Waning Gibbous;
Last Quarter (half-full on other side); Waning
Crescent.
 The eight Moon phases :
• NEW MOON : We cannot see the Moon
when it is a new moon.
• WAXING CRESCENT : We see the waxing
crescent phase as a thin crescent
opening to the left.
• FIRST QUARTER : We see the first quarter
phase as a half moon.
• WAXING GIBBOUS: The waxing gibbous
phase is between a half moon and full
moon. Waxing means it is getting bigger.
• FULL MOON: We can see the Moon
completely illuminated during full
moons.
• WANING GIBBOUS: The waning gibbous
phase is between a half moon and full
moon. Waning means it is getting
smaller.
• THIRD QUARTER: Quarter moon is as half
moon. It is the opposite half as illuminated in
the first quarter moon.
• WANING CRESCENT: We see the waning
crescent phase as a thin crescent opening to
the right.
• The Moon displays these eight phases one
after the other as it moves through its cycle
each month. It takes 27 days for the Moon to
orbit Earth. That means the Moon's cycle is 27
days long.
THANK YOU