Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 kilometres (238,857 mi), about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system (the barycentre) is located at about 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi)—a quarter the Earth's radius—beneath the surface of the Earth. The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth every 27.3 days^{[nb 3]} (the orbital period), and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth–Moon–Sun system are responsible for the phases of the Moon, which repeat every 29.5 days^{[nb 4]} (the synodic period).

The Moon's diameter is 3,474 kilometres (2,159 mi)

Some details of the Earth-Moon system. Besides the

a little more than a quarter of that of the Earth. Thus, the Moon's surface area is less than a tenth of the Earth (about a quarter of Earth's land area, approximately as large as Russia, Canada, and the United States combined), and its volume is about 2 percent that of Earth. The pull of gravity at its surface is about 17 percent of that at the Earth's surface.

The Moon is the only celestial body on which human beings have made a manned landing. While the Soviet Union's Luna programme was the first to reach the Moon with unmanned spacecraft, the NASA Apollo program achieved the only manned missions to date, beginning with the first manned lunar mission by Apollo 8 in 1968, and six manned lunar landings between 1969 and 1972 – the first being Apollo 11 in 1969. Human exploration of the Moon temporarily ceased with the conclusion of the Apollo program, although a few robotic landers and orbiters have been sent to the Moon since that time. The U.S. has committed to return to the Moon by 2018.^[5][6][7] On November 13, 2009, NASA announced the discovery of proof that water exists on the Moon, based on data obtained from the LCROSS lunar impact mission.

Physical characteristics

Internal structure

Main article: Internal structure of the Moon

Schematic illustration of the internal structure of the Moon

The Moon is a differentiated body, being composed of a geochemically distinct crust, mantle, and core. This structure is hypothesized to have resulted from the fractional crystallization of a magma ocean shortly after its formation, at about 4.4 billion years ago^[34]. The energy required to melt the outer portion of the Moon is commonly attributed to a giant impact event that is postulated to have formed the Earth-Moon system, and the subsequent reaccretion of material in Earth orbit. Crystallization of this magma ocean would have given rise to a mafic mantle and a plagioclase-rich crust (see Origin and geologic evolution below).

Geochemical mapping from orbit implies that the crust of the Moon is largely anorthositic in composition,^[35] consistent with the magma ocean hypothesis. In terms of elements, the crust is composed primarily of oxygen (41% to 46% by mass), silicon (21%), magnesium (6%), iron (13%), calcium (8%), and aluminium (7%).^[36][37] Based on geophysical techniques, its thickness is estimated to be on average about 50 km.^[1]

Partial melting within the mantle of the Moon gave rise to the eruption of mare basalts on the lunar surface. Analyses of these basalts indicate that the mantle is composed predominantly of the minerals olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene, and that the lunar mantle is more iron rich than that of the Earth. Some lunar basalts contain high abundances of titanium (present in the mineral ilmenite), suggesting that the mantle is highly heterogeneous in composition. Moonquakes have been found to occur deep within the mantle of the Moon about a thousand kilometres below the surface. These occur with monthly periodicities and are related to tidal stresses caused by the eccentric orbit of the Moon about the Earth.^[1]

The Moon has a mean density of 3 346.4 kg/m³, making it the second densest moon in the Solar System after Io. Nevertheless, several lines of evidence imply that the core of the Moon is small, with a radius of about 350 km or less.^[1] This corresponds to only about 20% the size of the Moon, in contrast to about 50% as is the case for most other terrestrial bodies. The composition of the lunar core is not well constrained, but most believe that it is composed of metallic iron alloyed with a small amount of sulfur and nickel. Analyses of the Moon's time-variable rotation indicate that the core is at least partly molten.^[38]

Topography

Main article: Topography of the Moon

Topography of the Moon, referenced to the lunar geoid

The topography of the Moon has been measured by the methods of laser altimetry and stereo image analysis, most recently from data obtained during the Clementine mission. The most visible topographic feature is the giant far side South Pole-Aitken basin, which possesses the lowest elevations of the Moon. The highest elevations are found just to the north-east of this basin, and it has been suggested that this area might represent thick ejecta deposits that were emplaced during an oblique South Pole-Aitken basin impact event. Other large impact basins, such as Imbrium, Serenitatis, Crisium, Smythii, and Orientale, also possess regionally low elevations and elevated rims. Another distinguishing feature of the Moon's shape is that the elevations are on average about 1.9 km higher on the far side than the near side.^[1]

Gravity field

Main article: Gravity of the Moon

The gravitational field of the Moon has been determined through tracking of radio signals emitted by orbiting spacecraft. The principle used depends on the Doppler effect, whereby the spacecraft acceleration in the line-of-sight direction can be determined by means of small shifts in frequency of the radio signal, and the distance from the spacecraft to a station on Earth. However, because of the Moon's synchronous rotation it is not possible to track spacecraft much over the limbs of the Moon, and the farside gravity field is thus only poorly characterised.^[39]

Radial gravitational anomaly at the surface of the Moon

The major characteristic of the Moon's gravitational field is the presence of mascons, which are large positive gravitational anomalies associated with some of the giant impact basins.^[40] These anomalies greatly influence the orbit of spacecraft about the Moon, and an accurate gravitational model is necessary in the planning of both manned and unmanned missions. The mascons are in part due to the presence of dense mare basaltic lava flows that fill some of the impact basins. However, lava flows by themselves can not explain the entirety of the gravitational signature, and uplift of the crust-mantle interface is required as well. Based on Lunar Prospector gravitational models, it has been suggested that some mascons exist that do not show evidence for mare basaltic volcanism.^[41] The huge expanse of mare basaltic volcanism associated with Oceanus Procellarum does not possess a positive gravitational anomaly.

Magnetic field

Main article: Magnetic field of the Moon

Total magnetic field strength at the surface of the Moon as derived from the Lunar Prospector electron reflectometer experiment

The Moon has an external magnetic field of the order of one to a hundred nanotesla—less than one hundredth that of the Earth, which is 30–60 microtesla. Other major differences are that the Moon does not currently have a dipolar magnetic field (as would be generated by a geodynamo in its core), and the magnetizations that are present are almost entirely crustal in origin.^[42] One hypothesis holds that the crustal magnetizations were acquired early in lunar history when a geodynamo was still operating. The small size of the lunar core, however, is a potential obstacle to this theory. Alternatively, it is possible that on an airless body such as the Moon, transient magnetic fields could be generated during large impact events. In support of this, it has been noted that the largest crustal magnetizations appear to be located near the antipodes of the giant impact basins. It has been proposed that such a phenomenon could result from the free expansion of an impact generated plasma cloud around the Moon in the presence of an ambient magnetic field.^[43]

Atmosphere

Main article: Atmosphere of the Moon

The Moon has an atmosphere so thin as to be almost negligible, with a total atmospheric mass of less than 10⁴ kg.^[44] The effective surface pressure of this small mass is around 3 × 10^-15 atm.^[45] This pressure varies, of course, with the diurnal moon cycle. One source of its atmosphere is outgassing—the release of gases such as radon that originate by radioactive decay processes within the crust and mantle.^[46] Another important source is generated through the process of sputtering, which involves the bombardment of micrometeorites, solar wind ions, electrons, and sunlight.^[35] Gases that are released by sputtering can either reimplant into the regolith as a result of the Moon's gravity, or can be lost to space either by solar radiation pressure or by being swept away by the solar wind magnetic field if they are ionised. The elements sodium (Na) and potassium (K) have been detected using earth-based spectroscopic methods, whereas the element radon–222 (²²²Rn) and polonium-210 (²¹⁰Po) have been inferred from data obtained from the Lunar Prospector alpha particle spectrometer.^[47] Argon–40 (⁴⁰Ar), helium-4 (⁴He), oxygen (O₂) and/or methane (CH₄), nitrogen (N₂) and/or carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO₂) were detected by in-situ detectors placed by the Apollo astronauts.^[48]

Surface temperature

During the lunar day, the surface temperature averages 107 °C, and during the lunar night, it averages −153 °C.^[49]

The Moon has the coldest place in the Solar System measured by a spacecraft.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has used its Diviner instrument to probe the insides of permanently shadowed craters on Earth's satellite. It found mid-winter, night-time surface temperatures inside the coldest craters in the northern polar region can dip as low as minus 249C (26 Kelvin). The Diviner instrument observed the lowest summer temperatures in the darkest craters at the southern pole to be about 35K (-238C); but in the north, close to the winter solstice the instrument recorded a temperature of just 26K on the south-western edge of the floor of Hermite Crater.

Calculations suggest one would have to travel to a distance beyond the Kuiper Belt - well beyond the orbit of Neptune - to find objects with surfaces this cold. The discovery adds further weight to the idea that some craters on the Moon could harbour water-ices for extended periods, and also more volatile substances that require even colder storage temperatures.

Lunar surface

Two sides of the Moon

The Moon is in synchronous rotation, which means it rotates about its axis in about the same time it takes to orbit the Earth. This results in it keeping nearly the same face turned towards the Earth at all times. The Moon used to rotate at a faster rate, but early in its history, its rotation slowed and became locked in this orientation as a result of frictional effects associated with tidal deformations caused by the Earth.^[12]

Small variations (libration) in the angle from which the Moon is seen allow about 59% of its surface to be seen from the Earth (but only half at any instant).^[4]

Near side of the Moon		Far side of the Moon

The side of the Moon that faces Earth is called the near side, and the opposite side the far side. The far side is often inaccurately called the "dark side," but in fact, it is illuminated exactly as often as the near side: once per lunar day, during the new Moon phase we observe on Earth when the near side is dark. The far side of the Moon was first photographed by the Soviet probe Luna 3 in 1959. One distinguishing feature of the far side is its almost complete lack of maria.

Lunar libration

Maria

Main article: Lunar mare

The dark and relatively featureless lunar plains which can clearly be seen with the naked eye are called maria (singular mare), Latin for seas, since they were believed by ancient astronomers to be filled with water. These are now known to be vast solidified pools of ancient basaltic lava. The majority of these lavas erupted or flowed into the depressions associated with impact basins that formed by the collisions of meteors and comets with the lunar surface. (Oceanus Procellarum is a major exception in that it does not correspond to a known impact basin). Maria are found almost exclusively on the near side of the Moon, with the far side having only a few scattered patches covering about 2% of its surface,^[13] compared with about 31% on the near side.^[4] The most likely explanation for this difference is related to a higher concentration of heat-producing elements on the near-side hemisphere, as has been demonstrated by geochemical maps obtained from the Lunar Prospector gamma-ray spectrometer.^[14][15] Several provinces containing shield volcanoes and volcanic domes are found within the near side maria.^[16]

Terrae

The lighter-colored regions of the Moon are called terrae, or more commonly just highlands, since they are higher than most maria. Several prominent mountain ranges on the near side are found along the periphery of the giant impact basins, many of which have been filled by mare basalt. These are hypothesized to be the surviving remnants of the impact basin's outer rims.^[17] In contrast to the Earth, no major lunar mountains are believed to have formed as a result of tectonic events.^[18]

From images taken by the Clementine mission in 1994, it appears that four mountainous regions on the rim of the 73 km-wide Peary crater at the Moon's north pole remain illuminated for the entire lunar day. These peaks of eternal light are possible because of the Moon's extremely small axial tilt to the ecliptic plane. No similar regions of eternal light were found at the south pole, although the rim of Shackleton crater is illuminated for about 80% of the lunar day. Other consequences of the Moon's small axial tilt are regions that remain in permanent shadow at the bottoms of many polar craters.^[19]

Impact craters

Lunar crater Daedalus on the Moon's far side

Main article: List of craters on the Moon

The surface of Earth's Moon is marked by impact craters^[20] which form when asteroids and comets collide with the lunar surface. There are about half a million craters with diameters greater than 1 km on the Moon.^{[citation needed]} Since impact craters accumulate at a nearly constant rate, the number of craters per unit area superposed on a geologic unit can be used to estimate the age of the surface (see crater counting). The lack of an atmosphere, weather and recent geological processes ensures that many of these craters have remained relatively well preserved in comparison to those on Earth.

The largest crater on the Moon, which also has the distinction of being one of the largest known craters in the Solar System,^[21] is the South Pole-Aitken basin. It is on the far side, between the South Pole and equator, and is some 2,240 km in diameter and 13 km in depth.^[22] Prominent impact basins on the near side include Imbrium, Serenitatis, Crisium, and Nectaris.

Regolith

Blanketed atop the Moon's crust is a highly comminuted (broken into ever smaller particles) and "impact gardened" surface layer called regolith. Since the regolith forms by impact processes, the regolith of older surfaces is generally thicker than for younger surfaces. In particular, it has been estimated that the regolith varies in thickness from about 3–5 m in the maria, and by about 10–20 m in the highlands.^[23] Beneath the finely comminuted regolith layer is what is generally referred to as the megaregolith. This layer is much thicker (on the order of tens of kilometres) and comprises highly fractured bedrock.^[24]

Astronauts have reported that the dust from the surface felt like snow and smelled like spent gunpowder.^[25] The dust is mostly made of silicon dioxide glass (SiO₂), most likely created from the meteors that have crashed into the Moon's surface. It also contains calcium and magnesium.

Presence of water

Main article: Lunar water

The continuous bombardment of the Moon by comets and meteoroids has most likely added small amounts of water to the lunar surface. If so, sunlight would split much of this water into its constituent elements of hydrogen and oxygen, both of which would ordinarily escape into space over time, because of the Moon's weak gravity. However, because of the slightness of the axial tilt of the Moon's spin axis to the ecliptic plane—only 1.5°—some deep craters near the poles never receive direct light from the Sun and are thus in permanent shadow (see Shackleton crater). Water molecules that ended up in these craters could be stable for long periods of time.

Clementine has mapped craters at the lunar south pole^[26] that are shadowed in this way, and computer simulations suggest that up to 14,000 km² might be in permanent shadow.^[19] Results from the Clementine mission bistatic radar experiment are consistent with small, frozen pockets of water close to the surface, and data from the Lunar Prospector neutron spectrometer indicate that anomalously high concentrations of hydrogen are present in the upper metre of the regolith near the polar regions.^[27] Estimate for the quantity of water on the Moon is 32 ounces per one ton of top layer of Moon's surface.

Water ice can be mined and then split into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms by means of nuclear generators or electric power stations equipped with solar panels. The presence of usable quantities of water on the Moon is an important factor in rendering lunar habitation cost-effective, since transporting water from Earth would be prohibitively expensive. However, recent observations made with the Arecibo planetary radar suggest that some of the near-polar Clementine radar data that were previously interpreted as being indicative of water ice might instead be a result of rocks ejected from young impact craters.^[28] The question of how much water there is on the Moon has not been resolved.

In July 2008, small amounts of water were found in the interior of volcanic pearls from the Moon (brought to Earth in 1971 by the Apollo 15 astronauts).^[29][30]

On September 24, 2009, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) reported that their first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1 using NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, found evidence of large quantities of water on the Moon's surface, and that water is still presently being formed.^[31][32] The instrument observed an absorption line in the spectrum of sunlight reflected from the Moon, indicating that light of a particular wavelength (around 2.8 microns) is being absorbed more readily than other nearby wavelengths. The position and shape of the line indicate the absorption is due to water. A nearby line also revealed the presence of the closely-related molecule hydroxyl, which consists of an oxygen atom with a single hydrogen atom. The exact abundance of water was not determined, but the team believed it could be as high as 1,000 parts per million in the top layer of Lunar soil.

On November 13, 2009, NASA announced the results of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, saying that "not just water, but lots of water" had been found by the mission near the southern pole.

Legal status

Although several pennants of the Soviet Union were scattered by Luna 2 in 1959 and by later landing missions, and U.S. flags have been symbolically planted on the Moon, no nation currently claims ownership of any part of the Moon's surface. Russia and the U.S. are party to the Outer Space Treaty, which places the Moon under the same jurisdiction as international waters (res communis). This treaty also restricts the use of the Moon to peaceful purposes, explicitly banning military installations and weapons of mass destruction (including nuclear weapons).^[96]

A second treaty, the Moon Treaty, was proposed to restrict the exploitation of the Moon's resources by any single nation, but it has not been signed by any of the space-faring nations. Several individuals have made claims to the Moon in whole or in part, although none of these are generally considered credible

Human understanding

See also: The Moon in mythology, Moon in art and literature, Lunar effect, and Lunar deity

Map of the Moon by Johannes Hevelius from his Selenographia (1647)

The Moon has been the subject of many works of art and literature and the inspiration for countless others. It is a motif in the visual arts, the performing arts, poetry, prose and music. A 5000-year-old rock carving at Knowth, Ireland may represent the Moon, which would be the earliest depiction discovered.^[87] In many prehistoric and ancient cultures, the Moon was thought to be a deity or other supernatural phenomenon, and astrological views of the Moon continue to be propagated today.

Among the first in the Western world to offer a scientific explanation for the Moon was the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (d. 428 BC), who reasoned that the Sun and Moon were both giant spherical rocks, and that the latter reflected the light of the former. His atheistic view of the heavens was one cause for his imprisonment and eventual exile.^[88]

In Aristotle's (384–322 BC) description of the universe, the Moon marked the boundary between the spheres of the mutable elements (earth, water, air and fire), and the imperishable stars of aether. This separation was held to be part of physics for many centuries after.^[89]

Aristarchus went a step further and computed the distance from earth, together with its size, obtaining a value of 20 earth radius for the distance (the real value is 60. The earth radius was known since Eratosthenes)

Moon against the Belt of Venus

During the Warring States of China, astronomer Shi Shen (fl. 4th century BC) gave instructions for predicting solar and lunar eclipses based on the relative positions of the Moon and Sun.^[90] Although the Chinese of the Han Dynasty (202 BC–202 AD) believed the Moon to be energy equated to qi, their 'radiating influence' theory recognized that the light of the Moon was merely a reflection of the Sun (mentioned by Anaxagoras above).^[91] This was supported by mainstream thinkers such as Jing Fang (78–37 BC) and Zhang Heng (78–139 AD), but it was also opposed by the influential philosopher Wang Chong (27–97 AD).^[91] Jing Fang noted the sphericity of the Moon, while Zhang Heng accurately described a lunar eclipse and solar eclipse.^[91][92] These assertions were supported by Shen Kuo (1031–1095) of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) who created an allegory equating the waxing and waning of the Moon to a round ball of reflective silver that, when doused with white powder and viewed from the side, would appear to be a crescent.^[93] He also noted that the reason for the Sun and Moon not eclipsing every time their paths met was because of a small obliquity in their orbital paths.^[93]

By the Middle Ages, before the invention of the telescope, more and more people began to recognise the Moon as a sphere, though they believed that it was "perfectly smooth".^[94] In 1609, Galileo Galilei drew one of the first telescopic drawings of the Moon in his book Sidereus Nuncius and noted that it was not smooth but had mountains and craters. Later in the 17th century, Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi drew a map of the Moon and gave many craters the names they still have today.

Still from silent film A Trip to the Moon (1902) by Georges Méliès

On maps, the dark parts of the Moon's surface were called maria (singular mare) or seas, and the light parts were called terrae or continents. The possibility that the Moon contains vegetation and is inhabited by selenites was seriously considered by major astronomers even into the first decades of the 19th century. The contrast between the brighter highlands and darker maria create the patterns seen by different cultures as the Man in the Moon, the rabbit and the buffalo, among others.

In 1835, the Great Moon Hoax fooled some people into thinking that there were exotic animals living on the Moon.^[95] Almost at the same time however (during 1834–1836), Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler were publishing their four-volume Mappa Selenographica and the book Der Mond in 1837, which firmly established the conclusion that the Moon has no bodies of water nor any appreciable atmosphere.

The far side of the Moon remained completely unknown until the Luna 3 probe was launched in 1959, and it was extensively mapped by the Lunar Orbiter program in the 1960s.

Exploration

Main articles: Exploration of the Moon, Apollo program, and Moon landing

See also: Robotic exploration of the Moon, Future lunar missions, and Colonization of the Moon

The first leap in lunar observation was prompted by the invention of the telescope. Galileo Galilei made good use of this new instrument and observed mountains and craters on the Moon's surface.

The Cold War-inspired space race between the Soviet Union and the U.S. led to an acceleration of interest in the Moon. Unmanned probes, both flyby and impact/lander missions, were sent almost as soon as launcher capabilities would allow. The Soviet Union's Luna program was the first to reach the Moon with unmanned spacecraft. The first man-made object to escape Earth's gravity and pass near the Moon was Luna 1, the first man-made object to impact the lunar surface was Luna 2, and the first photographs of the normally occluded far side of the Moon were made by Luna 3, all in 1959. The first spacecraft to perform a successful lunar soft landing was Luna 9 and the first unmanned vehicle to orbit the Moon was Luna 10, both in 1966.^[4] Moon samples have been brought back to Earth by three Luna missions (Luna 16, 20, and 24) and the Apollo missions 11 to 17 (except Apollo 13, which aborted its planned lunar landing).

The landing of the first humans on the Moon in 1969 is seen by many as the culmination of the space race.^[77] Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon as the commander of the American mission Apollo 11 by first setting foot on the Moon at 02:56 UTC on July 21, 1969. The American Moon landing and return was enabled by considerable technological advances, in domains such as ablation chemistry and atmospheric re-entry technology, in the early 1960s.

Scientific instrument packages were installed on the lunar surface during all of the Apollo missions. Long-lived ALSEP stations (Apollo lunar surface experiment package) were installed at the Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 landing sites, whereas a temporary station referred to as EASEP (Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package) was installed during the Apollo 11 mission. The ALSEP stations contained, among others, heat flow probes, seismometers, magnetometers, and corner-cube retroreflectors. Transmission of data to Earth was terminated on September 30, 1977 because of budgetary considerations.^[78][79] Since the lunar laser ranging (LLR) corner-cube arrays are passive instruments, they are still being used. Ranging to the LLR stations is routinely performed from earth-based stations with an accuracy of a few centimetres, and data from this experiment are being used to place constraints on the size of the lunar core.^[80]

&0000000000000037.00000037 years, &0000000000000005.0000005 days have now passed since Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, as part of the mission Apollo 17, left the surface of the Moon on December 14, 1972 (Cernan being the last to enter the LM) and no one has set foot on it since.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin photographed by Neil Armstrong during the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, there were 65 instances of artificial objects reaching the Moon (both manned and robotic, with ten in 1971 alone), with the last being Luna 24 in 1976. Only 18 of these were controlled Moon landings, with nine completing a round trip from Earth and returning samples of Moon rocks. The Soviet Union then turned its primary attention to Venus and space stations, and the U.S. to Mars and beyond. In 1990, Japan orbited the Moon with the Hiten spacecraft, becoming the third country to place a spacecraft into lunar orbit. The spacecraft released a smaller probe, Hagormo, in lunar orbit, but the transmitter failed, thereby preventing further scientific use of the mission.

In 1994, the U.S. finally returned to the Moon, robotically at least, sending the Joint Defense Department/NASA spacecraft Clementine. This mission obtained the first near-global topographic map of the Moon, and the first global multispectral images of the lunar surface. This was followed by the Lunar Prospector mission in 1998. The neutron spectrometer on Lunar Prospector indicated the presence of excess hydrogen at the lunar poles, which is likely to have been caused by the presence of water ice in the upper few meters of the regolith within permanently shadowed craters. The European spacecraft Smart 1 was launched September 27, 2003 and was in lunar orbit from November 15, 2004 to September 3, 2006.

On January 14, 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush called for a plan to resume manned missions to the Moon by 2020 (see Vision for Space Exploration).^[81] NASA is now planning for the construction of a permanent outpost at one of the lunar poles.^[82] The People's Republic of China has expressed ambitious plans for exploring the Moon and has started the Chang'e program for lunar exploration, successfully launching its first spacecraft, Chang'e-1, on October 24, 2007. Like NASA, China hopes to land people on the Moon by 2020.^[83] The U.S. launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite on June 18, 2009 (the two missions were co-manifested). Russia also announced to resume its previously frozen project Luna-Glob, consisting of an unmanned lander and orbiter, which is slated to land in 2012.^[84]

The Google Lunar X Prize, announced September 13, 2007, hopes to boost and encourage privately funded lunar exploration. The X Prize Foundation is offering anyone US$20 million who can land a robotic rover on the Moon and meet other specified criteria.

On September 14, 2007 the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched SELENE, also known as Kaguya, a lunar orbiter which is fitted with a high-definition camera and two small satellites. The mission is expected to last one year.^[85]

On October 22, 2008 India successfully launched the Chandrayaan I (a Sanskrit word literally meaning the 'Moon-craft') unmanned mission to the Moon and intends to launch several further unmanned missions. The country plans to launch Chandrayaan II in 2010 or 2011, which is slated to include a robotic lunar rover. India also has expressed its hope for a manned mission to the Moon by 2020.

Observation

See also: Lunar phase, Earthshine, and Observing the Moon

During its brightest phase, at "full Moon", the Moon has an apparent magnitude of about −12.6. By comparison, the Sun has an apparent magnitude of −26.8. When the Moon is in a quarter phase, its brightness is not half of a full Moon, but only about a tenth. This is because the lunar surface is not a perfect Lambertian reflector. When the Moon is full the opposition effect makes it appear brighter, but away from full there are shadows projected onto the surface which diminish the amount of reflected light.

On average, the Moon covers an area of 0.21078 square degrees on the night sky.^[74]

The Moon appears larger when close to the horizon. This is a purely psychological effect (see Moon illusion). It is actually about 1.5% smaller when the Moon is near the horizon than when it is high in the sky (because it is farther away by up to one Earth radius).

The Moon appears as a relatively bright object in the sky, in spite of its low albedo. The Moon is about the poorest reflector in the solar system and reflects only about 7% of the light incident upon it (about the same proportion as is reflected by a lump of coal). However, the Moon is not a Lambertian scatterer and reflects more light back towards the Sun (albedo of 12%) than in other directions because of the spherical glass beads in the moondust. This increases the brightness of a full Moon.^[75] It also has the effect of making the edges of a full Moon seem about as bright as the centre. Besides this, color constancy in the visual system recalibrates the relations between the colours of an object and its surroundings, and since the surrounding sky is comparatively dark the sunlit Moon is perceived as a bright object.

A halo around the Moon

The highest altitude of the Moon on a day varies and has nearly the same limits as the Sun. It also depends on the Earth season and lunar phase, with the full Moon being highest in winter. Moreover, the 18.6 year nodes cycle also has an influence, as when the ascending node of the lunar orbit is in the vernal equinox, the lunar declination can go as far as 28° each month (which happened most recently in 2006). This results that the Moon can go overhead on latitudes up to 28 degrees from the equator (e.g. Florida, Canary Islands or in the southern hemisphere Brisbane). Slightly more than 9 years later (next time in 2015) the declination reaches only 18° N or S each month. The orientation of the Moon's crescent also depends on the latitude of the observation site. Close to the equator, an observer can see a boat Moon.^[76]

Like the Sun, the Moon can give rise to atmospheric effects, including a 22° halo ring, and the smaller coronal rings seen more often through thin clouds. For more information on how the Moon appears in Earth's sky, see lunar phase.