The+Moon

What the moon is made of is kind of a mystery but there are some ideas of what it might be made of. The moon is thought to have layers much like the earth and the innermost layer, the lunar core, makes up 20% of the diameter. Scientists think that the innermost layer is made of metallic iron, and some small amounts of sulfur and nickel. Astronomers think that the moon is at least partly molten. Outside the core, is the biggest part of the moon called the mantle. The mantle extends 50 km below the surface of the moon and is probably made mostly of the minerals olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene. The mantle is thought to be more iron rich than the earth’s mantle. The outermost layer of the moon is called the crust and is made of o xygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium, and aluminum. There are also trace elements like titanium, uranium, thorium, potassium and hydrogen. Scientists have the most information about the crust of the moon.
 * Composition: **


 * Size: **
 * ** Diameter: ** 3,474 km
 * ** Volume: **2.195 x 10 10  km 3
 * **Surface Area:** 37.9 Million Square Kilometers
 * ** Mass: **7.347 x 10 22  kg


 * Density: ** 3.346 g/cm 3
 * Fun fact- The moon is the second densest moon in the solar system.

The moon completes an orbit around the earth about every 27.3 days. The orbit of the is in an elliptical shape around the earth.
 * Orbit: **

The surface temperature of the moon can range from anywhere from - 153°C at night to 107°C during the day. The reason the temperature varies so much is because the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere like the Earth does.
 * Surface Temperature: **

Living anywhere but Earth would created problems for us as humans, the moon is no different. Solar radiation is too high outside of Earth for humans to survive, so that right there would not allow us to live on the moon. Some other reasons we couldn’t survive on the moon would be because of the lack of oxygen, so we would always have to have oxygen supply. Though it would be a struggle to live on the moon, currently scientists are looking for ways to overcome these things.
 * Sustainable for life: **

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 * Surface Features: **
 * Craters- Craters can range from sizes as small as one inch to over 100 miles across. These formations are formed when meteoroids hit the moon. The energy from these meteoroids blast large holes and create raised mountain of rock around the outer edge.
 * Rays- When a meteoroid hits the surface, rock often splashes up rock and spreads across sounding area in long, thin rays that extend away from the crater. [[image:https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/P5NeRiYh13BuRbqW_ldiAE9fZeW2tdHTZBDfUEJm_B5V5cgv1qum2apNfzIjWXtnVAJn1BoH65LciBN3MNix2_gMW-ZfFas9noDEqCzMsz9Zrv_M04VkeXw7]]
 * Maria- The large, dark, hole-like features on the moon are called Maria. According to astronomers, when the moon was created it still had a thin crust, and when meteoroids hit the Moon with such force they broke through the crust, causing molten lava from below to fill the shallow basins on the moon. The lava then cooled and hardened creating the large flat areas we see as maria. Marias are darker than all surrounding areas caused by the basalt and volcanic rock. [[image:https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/YHhGDJ3F6mLaXqWbuVNCCnk4YPztJzj_iM4IJUwQvQVzdN6N0opJQP_rh_0Q-cwY3sNfPLByGiXKTHjyQGF9PXwJfhO2EQjoZ109zHCZouRy3lAOVC_ILK4W]]
 * Mountains- On the moon, mountains are perhaps the easiest to see around the about edge of most maria. The mountains most likely formed over four billion years ago when the moon was still hot and molten. As the material cooled, the moon shrank slightly, making the outer layer buckle, which pushed rocks up to form the mountain features we see today.

Prior to 2012, many people believed that the moon did not have tectonic plates because evidence showed that the moon did not have a liquid core as the Earth does. In February of 2012, new presence of the long, thin valleys- know as graben- suggested that the moon had undergone recent tectonic activity, within past 50 million years or so. This new information hinted that the moon may not have been entirely melted when it first was formed 4.6 billion years ago. Now it is believed that the moon has a solid core, covered by a global ocean of molten rock.
 * Tectonic Activity: **

"Density of the Moon." Universe Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.universetoday.com/20601/density-of-the-moon/>. "Future Space Exploration." Curiosity by Discovery. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/can-people-live-on-moon>. Major, Jason. "Daily News: New Scars Found on Moon, Hint at "Recent" Tectonic Activity." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120221-moon-recent-tectonic-nasa-molten -space-science/>. "Moon Surface Features." ThinkQuest : Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112188/moon_surface_features.htm>. Nasmyth. Lunar Mountains. N.d. Moon, Outerspace. Eastman House. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. "Orbit of the Moon." Universe Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.universetoday.com/20042/orbit-of-the-moon/>. "Size of the Moon." Universe Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.universetoday.com/20398/size-of-the-moon/>. "Temperature of the Moon." Universe Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.universetoday.com/19623/temperature-of-the-moon/>. "What is the Moon Made Of?" Universe Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.universetoday.com/20583/what-is-the-moon-made-of/>.
 * Work Cited: **