Astronomy GCSE : Week 8
2016–17 course delivered by Think Physics and the Centre for Life
The Moon
This week we had the moon rocks visiting us. (And I missed them.)
Web links for Week 8
- Obviously, the first place to look for information about the moon is NASA.
- And information about all the Apollo missions.
- The Planetary Science Institute has a clear explanation about the formation of the moon.
- If you’re looking for a Lunar Landing simulation, then the PhET project has one for you!
And finally, not quite about the moon, but here is the story of Margaret Hamilton, who wrote the computer programs that got the Apollo missions to the moon.
Specification statements for week 8
- identify the Moon’s principal features, including the Sea of Tranquility, Ocean of Storms, Sea of Crises, the craters Tycho, Copernicus and Kepler, and the Apennine mountain range (Latin names are acceptable)
- recall the Moon’s diameter (3 500 km) and its approximate distance from Earth (380 000 km)
- recall that the Moon’s rotational period and orbital period are both 27.3 days
- demonstrate an understanding of why the far side of the Moon is not visible from Earth
- describe how astronomers know the appearance of the Moon’s far side and how it differs from the near side
- distinguish between the lunar seas (maria) and highlands (terrae)
- demonstrate an understanding of the origin of lunar seas and craters
- demonstrate an understanding that the relative numbers of craters in the seas and highlands implies different ages of these features
- describe the nature of rilles and wrinkle ridges
- relate the lack of atmosphere to the Moon’s low gravity
- describe the nature and purposes of the Apollo space programme and its experimental packages (ALSEPs)
- describe the likely origin of the Moon (the giant impact hypothesis)
- describe the evidence that allowed astronomers to develop the giant impact hypothesis.
