What makes moons?

Most planetary moons probably formed from the discs of gas and dust circulating around planets in the early solar system, though some are captured objects that formed elsewhere and fell into orbit around larger worlds.

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What are moons formed from?

The leading theory of the Moon's origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The resulting debris from both Earth and the impactor accumulated to form our natural satellite 239,000 miles (384,000 kilometers) away.

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What makes moons different than planets?

Answer and Explanation:

Regardless of size, the primary difference between a moon and a planet is what it orbits. Planets all revolve around a star, like our sun. Moons, however, orbit planets.

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Are moons made of gas and dust?

They are generally solid bodies, and few have atmospheres. Most planetary moons probably formed out the discs of gas and dust circulating around planets in the early solar system. There are hundreds of moons in our solar system – even asteroids have been found to have small companion moons.

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Are all moons made of rock?

The surface of the moon

Children's fairytales tell us that the moon is made of cheese, but like all bodies in the solar system, rock is the more realistic ingredient. The moon's surface is covered with dead volcanoes, impact craters, and lava flows, some visible to the unaided stargazer.

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Moon 101 | National Geographic

44 related questions found

Is there any gold on the Moon?

The short answer to the questions posed in this article title is: Yes! gold traces have indeed been identified within the lunar soil. Back in October 2009, NASA conducted a mission called LCROSS, which involved crashing a booster rocket into the Moon at nearly 6,000 miles per hour.

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Is the Moon just a giant rock?

The composition of the Moon is much like that of the Earth. Its rocks are similar to Earth rocks and contain many but not all of the same minerals. However, the Moon has no atmosphere, it shows no trace of past or present life, and its rocks contain no water. The Moon rocks show that the lunar surface is very ancient.

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What existed before the Moon?

Before Earth and the Moon, there were proto-Earth and Theia (a roughly Mars-sized planet). The giant-impact model suggests that at some point in Earth's very early history, these two bodies collided.

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Did Earth ever have 2 moons?

Billions of years ago, an object the size of Mars smashed into the Earth. The resulting debris jetted into orbit, leaving us with one moon—and maybe two. If you visited the surface of the Earth 4.5 billion years ago, you wouldn't recognize it. The newly formed planet was still cooling from its recent coagulation.

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Could Earth have two moons?

More recently, real possibilities of an Earth with two moon have popped up. The properties of the Moon's far side has many scientists thinking that another moon used to orbit the Earth before smashing in to the Moon and becoming part of its mass.

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Can a moon be habitable?

Most notably, it was found that moons at distances between about 5 and 20 planetary radii from a giant planet could be habitable from an illumination and tidal heating point of view, but still the planetary magnetosphere would critically influence their habitability.

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Which planet has no moon?

Mercury and Venus are the only planets in our solar system without moons (i.e. they do not have any natural satellite).

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Are any moons larger than Earth?

Moons are always smaller than the planet that they orbit (move around). A smaller body always orbits around a larger body rather than the other way around because the larger body has more gravity.

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What would happen if the moon disappeared?

It is the pull of the Moon's gravity on the Earth that holds our planet in place. Without the Moon stabilising our tilt, it is possible that the Earth's tilt could vary wildly. It would move from no tilt (which means no seasons) to a large tilt (which means extreme weather and even ice ages).

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What would happen if the moon was destroyed?

Without a moon, we'd be able to see much dimmer and more distant objects in space all year round, without having to wait for the right phase. Another bonus is, if we did destroy the moon, it could potentially result in Earth having rings.

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Why doesn t the moon rotate?

An enduring myth about the Moon is that it doesn't rotate. While it's true that the Moon keeps the same face to us, this only happens because the Moon rotates at the same rate as its orbital motion, a special case of tidal locking called synchronous rotation.

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Did Earth ever have rings?

Scientists believe the Earth did have a ring system in the past. Very early in its history a Mars-sized object collided with the Earth, probably resulting in a dense ring of debris. However, unlike the outer planets, Earth's ring system soon coalesced to form the Moon.

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Did Earth used to be purple?

Hence, it's possible that there was a stage of our planet's history that the researchers dubbed “Purple Earth”. That time would date somewhere between 2.4 to 3.5 billion years ago, prior to the Great Oxygenation Event, which was likely due to the rise chlorophyll-based photosynthesis.

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Could Earth ever have rings?

In truth, it's quite likely that Earth *did* have a ring (or a system of rings) sometime in the VERY distant past; however, any such rings would have only been possible for a short period of time after the collision between Earth and Theia (the hypothetical planet that struck Earth to form our moon).

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Were there life on moon?

NASA says microbial life may exist in the harsh environment of the lunar south pole. Once thought to be inhospitable and devoid of life, scientists are now considering the possibility that lifeforms could exist on the Moon.

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What did the Moon look like before it hit Earth?

Right after its formation, the Moon was extremely hot. Its entire outer surface was a deep “magma ocean” of molten rock. It would have glowed a dull red in Earth's skies, looking 15 times as wide as the Moon did today.

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What was in space before the sun?

The Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago in a giant, spinning cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula. As the nebula collapsed under its own gravity, it spun faster and flattened into a disk.

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What is inside of the Moon?

At the Moon's center is a dense, metallic core. This core is largely composed of iron and some nickel. The Moon's core is relatively small (about 20% of its diameter) compared to other terrestrial worlds (like Earth) with cores measuring closer to 50% of their diameters.

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How much is the Moon rock worth?

Since those rocks, (which, precisely, weighed 101 grams), were valued at $21 million, that extrapolates to $94 million per pound. Consequently, the 842 pounds owned by the JSC would, according to NASA, be worth approximately $80 billion.

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