How was the Moon formed?
There used to be several theories on how the moon was made.
First is capture theory which suggests that Moon was like an asteroid [here asteroid means they are small, rocky objects that orbit around the sun like planets, but they are much smaller in size ]
that is found somewhere in the solar system but captured by Earth’s gravity.
In contrast, one theory said that the moon was created along with Earth at its formation.
Finally, the fission scenario suggested that Earth spin so fast that some material breaks off and orbits around the planet.
But the most accepted theory is the giant impact theory which proposes that the Moon formed during a collision between Earth and another small planet about the size of Mars and the Debris [ loose natural material consisting especially of brok\en pieces of rock] collected in orbit around Earth to form Moon.
Evidence to prove this theory right
After the Apollo mission brought back over a tonne of rock and soil from the moon, they showed that Earth and Moon have some remarkable chemical and isotropic similarities. Hence, it proves that “ If the moon has been created elsewhere and captured by Earth’s gravity, so its composition must be different. “ So Giant Impact theory was accepted.
Size and Distance
The radius of 1740 km means less than a third of the width of Earth
The Moon is an average of 384,400 Km away, which means 30 Earth-size Planets could fit .
How does the Moon affect the length of the day on Earth?
Early Earth was spinning at a much faster rate, and you must be amazed that Earth had a 6 hour day 4.5 billion years ago. Since then, with the help of our Moon, Earth has been slowing down, and our days have been getting longer.
As the Moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth stole some of Earth’s spin energy, launching the moon slowly into higher and higher orbits. As the distance between Earth and Moon increased and the spins of both decreased.
The moon takes over 27 days to complete one full orbit around the Earth. Just like Earth, our Moon rotates on its own axis and experiences daylight and dark cycles.
You know the Moon's days and night cycles are longer than Earth’s. The Moon takes the same amount of time around once as it does to orbit completely around the Earth.
Water on Moon
During the initial Exploration of the Moon and the analysis of all returned samples from Apollo and the Luna Missions, we thought that the surface of the Moon was dry.
The first discovery of water was made in 2008 by Chandrayaan -1, which detected hydroxyl molecules spread across the lunar surface concentrated at poles.
Scientists have also found the lunar surface releases its water when the Moon is bombarded by micrometeoroids. It means the surface is protected by a layer of dry soil and a shocking fact when most water releases into space when impacted by micrometeoroids [ a small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if entered into Earth's surface.
Atmosphere
The Moon has a fragile atmosphere. That's why it does not provide any protection from the Sun's radiation or impacts from meteoroids.
MOON makes Earth a more Livable planet by moderating our home’s Planet wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate.
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