Earth Sciences 1086F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Geology Of The Moon, Lunar Mare, Impact Crater

• School: Western University
• Department: Earth Sciences
• Course: Earth Sciences 1086F/G
• Professor: Elizabeth Webb

Document Summary

Introduction: the moon is the only nearby object that we can look at and pick out features (resolve features) without help. Sometimes the moon has a partner: between september 2006 and june 2007, a little asteroid (2006 rh120) flow so close to earth that it was captured by its gravity. Crater making: because of the combination of orbital speed and planetary gravity, meteoroids and asteroids typically strike planets at 10 or more km/s. For earth impacts, the rule of thumb says a crater will be 15-20 times the size of the impactor. For the moon, the factor must be larger (perhaps 50x) because there is no atmosphere to slow objects. First human on the moon was neil armstrong on july 20th, 1969: the first step onto the moon from the apollo 11 lunar module, the eagle, fulfilled john f. Set up scientific experiments, took photos, collected lunar samples. Surface of the moon was mapped by us probe clementine.