On Moon no atmosphere. So her relief not protected from meteorites, on its surfaces there is no erosion of rocks, and there is no dust on the surface of the Moon. The fact is that in an airless space any dust quickly sticks together into a porous mass similar to pumice.
The lunar landscape is strict and solemn. The surface is dotted with craters, both large mountain circuses and small ones the size of a pinhead. They are of both meteorite and volcanic origin. The edges of the rocks are sharp. The shadows cast by the rocks are clear and black.

The lunar soil is dark, almost black. Physicists have such a concept as “albedo”; this value shows how much incident light a particular surface reflects as a percentage. The Moon's albedo is about 7 percent. This is how black reflects. If there were light soil on the Moon, then on Earth on a moonlit night it would be as light as day.

The horizon line on the Moon is one kilometer from the observer. The black starry sky glows slightly. It is the dust from meteorite fragments that scatters the light. In the sky of the Moon there is a blue ball - the Earth, which in apparent size is 40 times larger than the Moon in our sky, and illuminates its surface well.

The relief of the lunar surface was mainly clarified as a result of many years of telescopic observations. The “lunar seas,” occupying about 40% of the visible surface of the Moon, are flat lowlands intersected by cracks and low winding ridges; There are relatively few large craters in the seas. Many seas are surrounded by concentric ring ridges. The remaining, lighter surface is covered with numerous craters, ring-shaped ridges, grooves, and so on. Craters smaller than 15-20 kilometers have a simple cup shape; larger craters (up to 200 kilometers) consist of a rounded shaft with steep internal slopes, have a relatively flat bottom, deeper than the surrounding terrain, often with a central hill. The heights of mountains above the surrounding area are determined by the length of shadows on the lunar surface or photometrically. In this way, hypsometric maps were compiled on a scale of 1: 1,000,000 for most of the visible side. However, absolute heights, distances of points on the surface of the Moon from the center of the figure or mass of the Moon are determined very uncertainly, and hypsometric maps based on them give only general idea about the relief of the Moon. The relief of the lunar marginal zone, which, depending on the libration phase, limits the lunar disk, has been studied in much more detail and more accurately. For this zone, the German scientist F. Hein, the Soviet scientist A.A. Nefediev, the American scientist C. Watts compiled hypsometric maps, which are used to take into account the unevenness of the edge of the Moon during observations in order to determine the coordinates of the Moon (such observations are made with meridian circles and from photographs of the Moon against the background of surrounding stars, as well as from observations of the occultations of stars). Micrometric measurements determined the selenographic coordinates of several main reference points in relation to the lunar equator and the mean meridian of the Moon, which serve to reference a large number of other points on the lunar surface. The main starting point is the small regular-shaped crater Mösting, clearly visible near the center of the lunar disk. The structure of the lunar surface has been mainly studied by photometric and polarimetric observations, supplemented by radio astronomy studies.

Craters on the lunar surface have different relative ages: from ancient, barely visible, highly reworked formations to very clear-cut young craters, sometimes surrounded by light “rays”. At the same time, young craters overlap older ones. In some cases, the craters are cut into the surface of the lunar maria, and in others, the rocks of the seas cover the craters. Tectonic ruptures either dissect craters and seas, or are themselves overlapped by younger formations. These and other relationships make it possible to establish the sequence of appearance of various structures on the lunar surface; in 1949, Soviet scientist A.V. Khabakov divided lunar formations into several successive age complexes. Further development This approach made it possible by the end of the 60s to compile medium-scale geological maps for a significant part of the lunar surface. The absolute age of lunar formations is known so far only at a few points; but, using some indirect methods, it can be established that the age of the youngest large craters is tens and hundreds of millions of years, and the bulk of large craters arose in the “pre-marine” period, 3-4 billion years ago.

Both internal forces and external influences took part in the formation of lunar relief forms. Calculations of the thermal history of the Moon show that soon after its formation, the interior was heated by radioactive heat and was largely melted, which led to intense volcanism on the surface. As a result, giant lava fields and a number of volcanic craters were formed, as well as numerous cracks, ledges and more. At the same time, a huge number of meteorites and asteroids fell on the surface of the Moon in the early stages - the remnants of a protoplanetary cloud, the explosions of which created craters - from microscopic holes to ring structures with a diameter of many tens, and possibly up to several hundred kilometers.

Due to the absence of an atmosphere and hydrosphere, a significant part of these craters has survived to this day. Nowadays, meteorites fall on the Moon much less frequently; volcanism also largely ceased as the Moon used up a lot of thermal energy and radioactive elements were carried into the outer layers of the Moon.

Residual volcanism is evidenced by the outflow of carbon-containing gases in lunar craters, spectrograms of which were first obtained by the Soviet astronomer N.A. Kozyrev.

The moon in Roman mythology is the goddess of night light. In Egyptian mythology, the moon goddess Tefnut and her sister Shu, one of the incarnations of the solar principle, were twins. In Indo-European and Baltic mythology, the motif of the month courting the sun and their wedding is widespread: after the wedding, the month leaves the sun, for which the thunder god takes revenge on him and cuts the month in half. In Armenian mythology, Lusin (“moon”), a young man asked his mother, who was holding the dough, for a bun. The angry mother slapped Lusin in the face, from which he flew into the sky. Traces of the test are still visible on his face. According to popular beliefs, the phases of the moon are associated with the cycles of the life of King Lusin: the new moon - with his youth, the full moon - with maturity; when the moon wanes and a crescent appears, Lusin becomes old, and then goes to heaven (dies). He returns from paradise reborn.

There are also myths about the origin of the moon from parts of the body (most often from the left and right eyes). Most peoples of the world have special Lunar myths that explain the appearance of spots on the moon, most often by the fact that there is a special person there (“moon man” or “moon woman”). Many peoples attach special importance to the moon deity, believing that it provides the necessary elements for all living things.

Relief of the Moon

Traditionally, there are two main types of landscape on the Moon - continents and seas. The predominant form of relief of the lunar surface is the lunar maria, which are huge, dark-colored depressions. Of course, there is no water in these seas, but these depressions were named so in the distant past for their darkish color; these names have remained with them to the present day. Smaller dark spots, by analogy with the seas, were named bays, lakes and swamps. The main seas are concentrated within the visible hemisphere. The largest marine formations are the Ocean of Storms. It is adjacent to the Sea of ​​Rains from the northeast, the Sea of ​​Humidity and the Sea of ​​Clouds from the south. In the eastern half of the disk visible from the earth, the Sea of ​​Clarity, the Sea of ​​Tranquility and the Sea of ​​Abundance stretch in a chain from northwest to southeast. This chain is adjoined from the south by the Sea of ​​Nectar, and from the northeast by the Sea of ​​Crises. Relatively small-sized marine territories are located on the border of the visible and reverse hemispheres. These are the Eastern Sea, the Marginal Sea, the Smith Sea and the Southern Sea. On back side There is only one significant marine type formation - the Sea of ​​​​Moscow. Seas irregular shape in most cases they are adjacent to circular seas. The largest circular sea, the Sea of ​​Rains, has preserved only one of the outer rings in the form of the mountain ranges of the Alps, Caucasus, Apennines and Carpathians.

In addition to the seas, ring mountains are scattered over vast areas, having a round shape in the central parts of the visible lunar disk, and an elliptical shape on the edge parts of the disk. Ring mountains are large and small round formations, unequally deep, surrounded by ramparts rising 0.5-1.5 km above the surrounding area. Ring mountains with a diameter of more than 35 km were called lunar circuses, and the rest - with smaller diameters - were called lunar craters. Small craters are located across the entire surface of the Moon: on its plains, at the bottom of the seas, on mountain ranges and other formations.

You can find mountain valleys that are narrow, long straight strips stretching for tens of kilometers. Thus, a valley in the Alps mountain range is 120 km long and 10-15 km wide.

Characteristic formations are lunar mountains, the height of individual peaks of which reaches 9 km, and mountain ranges similar to those on Earth and, by analogy, received the names of the terrestrial mountain ranges of the Caucasus, Alps, and Apennines.

Systems of various cracks and rays emanating from the bases of craters, furrows and light rays are common. Total number There are about 300 radiant craters visible during the full moon on the side of the Moon visible to us.

Marine and continental landscapes are located at different altitude levels. On the scale of the entire lunar globe, the difference in the average levels of the continents and seas reaches 2.3 km. Within the visible hemisphere, this value is 1.4 km. The average level of circular seas is 1.3 km lower than the average level of irregular seas and almost 4 km lower than the level of continents.

4.3. Relief of the lunar surface.

The relief of the lunar surface was mainly clarified as a result of many years of telescopic observations. The “lunar seas,” occupying about 40% of the visible surface of the Moon, are flat lowlands intersected by cracks and low winding ridges; There are relatively few large craters in the seas. Many seas are surrounded by concentric ring ridges. The remaining, lighter surface is covered with numerous craters, ring-shaped ridges, grooves, and so on. Craters smaller than 15-20 kilometers have a simple cup shape; larger craters (up to 200 kilometers) consist of a rounded shaft with steep internal slopes, have a relatively flat bottom, deeper than the surrounding terrain, often with a central hill. The heights of mountains above the surrounding area are determined by the length of shadows on the lunar surface or photometrically. In this way, hypsometric maps were compiled on a scale of 1: 1,000,000 for most of the visible side. However, absolute heights, the distances of points on the surface of the Moon from the center of the figure or mass of the Moon are determined very uncertainly, and hypsometric maps based on them give only a general idea of ​​the relief of the Moon. The relief of the lunar marginal zone, which, depending on the libration phase, limits the lunar disk, has been studied in much more detail and more accurately. For this zone, the German scientist F. Hein, the Soviet scientist A. A. Nefediev, and the American scientist C. Watts compiled hypsometric maps, which are used to take into account the unevenness of the edge of the Moon during observations in order to determine the coordinates of the Moon (such observations are made with meridian circles and from photographs of the Moon against the background of surrounding stars, as well as from observations of star occultations). Micrometric measurements determined the selenographic coordinates of several main reference points in relation to the lunar equator and the mean meridian of the Moon, which serve to reference a large number of other points on the lunar surface. The main starting point is the small regular-shaped crater Mösting, clearly visible near the center of the lunar disk. The structure of the lunar surface has been mainly studied by photometric and polarimetric observations, supplemented by radio astronomical studies.

Craters on the lunar surface have different relative ages: from ancient, barely visible, highly reworked formations to very clear-cut young craters, sometimes surrounded by light “rays”. At the same time, young craters overlap older ones. In some cases, the craters are cut into the surface of the lunar maria, and in others, the rocks of the seas cover the craters. Tectonic ruptures either dissect craters and seas, or are themselves overlapped by younger formations. These and other relationships make it possible to establish the sequence of appearance of various structures on the lunar surface; in 1949, Soviet scientist A.V. Khabakov divided lunar formations into several successive age complexes. Further development of this approach made it possible by the end of the 60s to compile medium-scale geological maps for a significant part of the lunar surface. The absolute age of lunar formations is known so far only at a few points; but, using some indirect methods, it can be established that the age of the youngest large craters is tens and hundreds of millions of years, and the bulk of large craters arose in the “pre-marine” period, 3-4 billion years ago.

Both internal forces and external influences took part in the formation of lunar relief forms. Calculations of the thermal history of the Moon show that soon after its formation, the interior was heated by radioactive heat and was largely melted, which led to intense volcanism on the surface. As a result, giant lava fields and a number of volcanic craters were formed, as well as numerous cracks, ledges and more. At the same time, a huge number of meteorites and asteroids fell on the surface of the Moon in the early stages - the remnants of a protoplanetary cloud, the explosions of which created craters - from microscopic holes to ring structures with a diameter of many tens, and possibly up to several hundred kilometers. Due to the absence of an atmosphere and hydrosphere, a significant part of these craters has survived to this day. Nowadays, meteorites fall on the Moon much less frequently; volcanism also largely ceased as the Moon used up a lot of thermal energy and radioactive elements were carried into the outer layers of the Moon. Residual volcanism is evidenced by the outflow of carbon-containing gases in lunar craters, spectrograms of which were first obtained by the Soviet astronomer N.A. Kozyrev.

4.4. Lunar soil.

Everywhere where they landed spacecraft, The Moon is covered with so-called regolith. This is a heterogeneous debris-dust layer ranging in thickness from several meters to several tens of meters. It arose as a result of crushing, mixing and sintering of lunar rocks during the fall of meteorites and micrometeorites. Due to exposure solar wind The regolith is saturated with neutral gases. Particles of meteorite matter were found among the regolith fragments. Based on radioisotopes, it was established that some fragments on the surface of the regolith had been in the same place for tens and hundreds of millions of years. Among the samples delivered to Earth, there are two types of rocks: volcanic (lava) and rocks that arose due to the crushing and melting of lunar formations during meteorite falls. The bulk of volcanic rocks are similar to terrestrial basalts. Apparently, all lunar seas are composed of such rocks.

In addition, in the lunar soil there are fragments of other rocks similar to those on Earth and the so-called KREEP - rock enriched in potassium, rare earth elements and phosphorus. Obviously, these rocks are fragments of the substance of the lunar continents. Luna 20 and Apollo 16, which landed on the lunar continents, brought back rocks such as anorthosites. All types of rocks were formed as a result of long evolution in the bowels of the Moon. In a number of ways, lunar rocks differ from terrestrial rocks: they contain very little water, little potassium, sodium and other volatile elements, and some samples contain a lot of titanium and iron. The age of these rocks, determined by the ratios of radioactive elements, is 3 - 4.5 billion years, which corresponds to the most ancient periods of the Earth's development.

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