Earth’s NeighbourLa Luna es una constante en las culturas de todo el mundo, con una presencia destacada en poesías, pinturas, leyendas y canciones populares de todas la épocas. Sin embargo, aún es mucho lo que el público general desconoce de nuestro satélite natural. 1 The Moon is not a sphere It is actually egg-shaped. When we look at it, we are looking at one of the small ends! It is also wonky — its centre of mass is not exactly in the geometric centre — perhaps because of so many asteroid collisions. 2 We never see all the Moon The most we can ever see is 59 per cent. If we were on the lunar surface, in the other 41 per cent, we could never see the Earth, our home. Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd, is one of the most famous LPs of all time. 3 The Moon was almost destroyed by Man! During the Cold War, the Americans considered exploding a nuclear bomb on the Moon. The idea was to show the Russians just who was the boss … on the Earth and in the stars! 4 Our neighbour is making us slower The presence of the Moon is reducing the speed of the Earth’s rotation. In the last hundred years, our planet has slowed by 1.4 milliseconds. Our days will gain a second in 50,000 years. No need to reset our watches yet! 5 In the shadow of the Sun The Sun is fourteen times brighter than the full moon. For a full moon to shine with the same brightness as the Sun, you would need 398,100 Moons! That is a lot of collisions! |