Melvin Abreu
Eng 101 Ed. Rice
Essay #3

	Here's a quick overview of the moon to satisfy an inquiring mind. If someone is interested in the moon, they should research it, and to a further extent, study it. It could just be to know more about one’s surroundings or even become a hobby. The moon has many characteristics that we can become aware of, and will maybe interest us. The moon is filled with craters, shines bright, has an orbit, is the closest natural satellite to the earth, and has different phases.  You can learn a lot by exploring the moon's selenography, physical properties, and the times it was visited and others like it. The moon has many features.

	First we can look at the moons selenography which is basically filled with craters, has dark spots called Maria, and shines with help from the sun. The moon has funny features which some say looks like a face, and others say it looks like a rabbit. The moon's craters vary in sizes and were made since the moon's birth by foreign objects that slam into her surface. Many of the craters are large in size, some overlap others; this is a key clue to what crater was there first. Another feature of the moon is the Lunar Mare or Maria. These are dark spots on the moon. Volcanic activity on the moon pushes steam, dust and pumice onto the moons surface. This is thought to occur because of the effect of earth’s gravity with the moon, it causes the lava to only come out on the near side and none on the far side. Another interesting fact is since the sun has light rays that hit its surface it makes it to shine, just like the earth shines when the sun's rays hit it. Looking at the moon with a loved one, or having dinner under the moon is thought to be very romantic. A full moon however, is said to make some people crazy. There are movies on werewolves where a man turns into one under a full moon. The moon can be seen all around the world; the moon seems to vary in size depending on ones location on the globe.

	Next we can closely look at the moons orbit and physical properties. The moon orbits around the earth, and the moon doesn't revolve around its axis, rather orbits around the earth in a fixed one. According to April Holladay from Wonderquest.com the moon spins as fast as it orbits around the earth so that we always see the same side. Though it used to be faster she says. She also says that the moon takes 27.32 days to go around the earth. These properties are explained further by GrantChronicles.com. Now we can look at the moon's size. According to FreeMars.org the moon has a diameter that is 3,476 km wide, a volume that is 2,199 x 1010 km3, a Mass that is 7.349 x 1022 kg, a mean density that is 3.342. Other facts are surface gravity that is 1.62 m/s2, an escape velocity that is 2.38 km/s, a visual altedo that is .12, and a visual magnitude that is +0.21. The website also says that the distance from the earth to the moon is 600 kilometers.

	Further more the moons role in mans life and also how it’s been explored. During years of mans evolution the moon's always played its role. Christopher Columbus used it to navigate with her in his sight, Old Astrologers used to gaze up at her and Writers used to write about her. When it comes to life and science the moon has been and always wanted to be explored. With this fueling they're drive and destiny being immanent, that dream was made reality. For further information I looked up on the internet and came across a wiki site. This site states that man landed on the moon Dec. 24, 1968. These were United States Astronauts who made the dream of man on the moon come true. This wasn’t the first time though; if we look at earlier times the first man made vehicles to visit the moon were made by the Russians. In '59 the Luna 2 visited the moon, followed by the Luna 3. Luna 17 was launched in 1970 and became the first roving remote controlled robot. The moon has been visited many times more, including not to long ago when scientist slammed a satellite into her southern pole and discovered water.

	The moon has other celestial bodies like it too. They can even be looked at very similarly because they behave the same. In our solar system these bodies range in size and are practically worlds of their own. Jupiter has 63 of them, Saturn has 62, Uranus has 27, Neptune 13, Pluto 3, Mars 2, and dwarf planets (I believe they are, and most likely are) Haunea and Eris have 2 and 1 respectively. These moons form around they're planet and because of gravity, they revolve around it. When it comes to Pluto; a dwarf planet, one of its moons makes the Pluto wobble in its orbit. It's like they're swinging each other round and round holding hands. That's because of their relative sizes. If we look at Jupiter more closely, we find Titan, one of Jupiter’s’ moon’s. This moon is very volcanic, and even has an atmosphere. It’s being studied by Scientist, for research purposes and to find out if life exists under those conditions.

	In conclusion the moon is earth's natural satellite revolving around the earth. This satellite is not that exciting to a normal man; however, maybe if he's in love. Scientists or astrologers are definitely interested. As a young star gazer myself, I figure why check out other worlds (because they're there, need to be explored, are different compared to each other for study), when I have the moon that’s right there and you can study it closer than any of them that can be seen from the earth. The sun has the same aspect since if you like stars, study the sun, since its right there. The moon has many features and characteristics. The moon is great for viewing under a telescope just to pass the time. The moon shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Bibliography:

www.Wonderquest.com/MoonSpin.htm
www.GrantChronicles.com/astro29.htm
www.FreeMars.org/Jeff/Planets/Luna.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_the_Moon
http://window2universe.org/our_solar_system/moons_table.html