Our moon is the closest celestial body to Earth. You can reach it in about 3 days in a spacecraft. The moon is one of the reminders of how chaotic the early solar system was, as it came to existence due to a violent collision. A few billion years ago a large celestial object about the size of Mars collided with Earth, knocking out some chunk of the planet into space. These chunks and particles formed a ring around the earth and quickly came back together to form the moon we see in our night sky today. The Earth’s atmosphere causes most debris from outer space to burn up before they make an impact on the planet. However, unlike the Earth the moon has no atmosphere, hence everything heading towards it hits the surface with a massive amount of impact. These impacts leave scars forever. The footprints left on the moon by astronauts will remain on the moon’s surface for at least 10 million years.
There are 2 types of terrain on the moon, they are:
Maria – This terrain is called ‘Maria’ from 'Mare', the Latin word for sea. Maria is found on the near side that faces Earth. They were born about 4 billion years ago when the asteroids smashed into the moon, causing lava to flow out and resurface vast areas.
The second terrain of the moon does not have a specific name. but this part is not smooth and flat like Maria, the far sides of the moon either missed being hit by the asteroids or the crust/land there is thicker and stronger than kept lava and molten magma from pouring out.
Exactly like Earth, the moon also has numerous mountain ranges. Many of these ranges are found at the boundaries of huge craters where the impact of the asteroids thrust the landmass up forming mountains. One of the shocking discoveries made by the astronauts was that the mountains of the moon are not sharp but efficiently rounded. As the moon does not have an atmosphere there are only dark, black shadows that are cast on the surface, unlike the soft grey tones that are formed on earth. Due to this and absence of other familiar objects on the moon, it becomes impossible for astronauts standing on the moon to know how far the mountain is, or how close it is, or even its size.
The gravitational forces of the Earth and moon are constantly pulling on each other. This causes some fascinating results, including the tides along the shoreline. When the moon was formed about 4 billion years ago, it was a lot closer to us than it is now, almost 6 times closer. Now it takes 28 days for the moon to rotate around its axis as well as revolve around the earth. This is known as the tidal lock. Hence, we can only see 1 side of the moon from Earth. Most of the larger moons in the solar system are in tidal lock with their planets, too. The moon is still drifting away from Earth, adding 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) a year to its orbit. It would eventually leave the Earth and float away, though the solar system would culminate before that could happen.
The moon was moulded by an ancient collision, and scientists believe it is headed toward additional catastrophe. In about 5 billion years, the Sun will enter its red giant phase and begin to swell in diameter. As it reaches the path of the moon it will push back the moon’s orbital path back into Earth. Eventually, this will tear the moon apart. At first, the lunar bits and pieces would create a lumpy ring system around our planet, just as it began, and then they would crash into Earth’s surface and crust.
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