In the section on the question What is the rotation speed of the Moon around the Earth? given by the author chevron the best answer is Orbital speed1.022 km/s
Movement of the Moon
To a first approximation, we can assume that the Moon moves in an elliptical orbit with an eccentricity of 0.0549 and a semimajor axis of 384,399 km. The actual motion of the Moon is quite complex; many factors must be taken into account when calculating it, for example, the oblateness of the Earth and the strong influence of the Sun, which attracts the Moon 2.2 times stronger than the Earth. More precisely, the movement of the Moon around the Earth can be represented as a combination of several movements:
rotation around the Earth in an elliptical orbit with a period of 27.32 days;
precession (plane rotation) of the lunar orbit with a period of 18.6 years (see also saros);
rotation of the major axis of the lunar orbit (apse line) with a period of 8.8 years;
periodic change in the inclination of the lunar orbit relative to the ecliptic from 4°59′ to 5°19′;
periodic change in the size of the lunar orbit: perigee from 356.41 Mm to 369.96 Mm, apogee from 404.18 Mm to 406.74 Mm;
the gradual removal of the Moon from the Earth (about 4 cm per year) so that its orbit is a slowly unwinding spiral. This is confirmed by measurements carried out over 25 years.
Answer from Suck through[newbie]
Here are the wise guys, Wikipedia Christmas trees. They copied from all sorts of Wikipedias of various insanity and even did not bother to remove references to internal resources like “-” or “(see also saros)”. The elliptical orbit has not yet gone anywhere, but an eccentricity of 0.0549 or a semimajor axis of 384,399 kilometers is already too much.
Well, they would write that the Moon moves around our planet in a rather elongated elliptical orbit and makes rather complex evolutionary movements and librations, that is, slow oscillatory movements that are clearly visible when observed from the Earth. The average orbital speed of the earth's satellite is 1.023 km/s or 3682.8 kilometers per hour. That's all.
Answer from Wake up[newbie]
1.022
Answer from Yoni Tunoff[newbie]
The Moon moves in orbit around the Earth at a speed of 1.02 km per second. If the Moon rotates around its axis at the same speed, then dividing the length of the Moon’s equator by the speed of 1.02 km per second, we find out the time of 1 rotation of the Moon around its axis in seconds. The length of the Moon's equator is 10920.166 km.
Forty years ago - July 20, 1969 - man set foot on the surface of the Moon for the first time. NASA's Apollo 11, with a crew of three astronauts (commander Neil Armstrong, lunar module pilot Edwin Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins), became the first to reach the Moon in the USSR-US space race.
Every month, the Moon, moving in orbit, passes approximately between the Sun and the Earth and faces the Earth with its dark side, at which time the new moon occurs. One to two days after this, a narrow bright crescent of the “young” Moon appears in the western sky.
The rest of the lunar disk is at this time dimly illuminated by the Earth, which is turned toward the Moon with its daytime hemisphere; This is a faint glow of the Moon - the so-called ashen light of the Moon. After 7 days, the Moon moves away from the Sun by 90 degrees; the first quarter of the lunar cycle begins, when exactly half of the lunar disk is illuminated and the terminator, i.e., the dividing line between the light and dark sides, becomes straight - the diameter of the lunar disk. In the following days, the terminator becomes convex, the appearance of the Moon approaches a bright circle, and after 14-15 days the full moon occurs. Then the western edge of the Moon begins to decline; on the 22nd day the last quarter is observed, when the Moon is again visible in a semicircle, but this time with its convex face facing the east. The angular distance of the Moon from the Sun decreases, it again becomes a tapering crescent, and after 29.5 days the new moon occurs again.
The points of intersection of the orbit with the ecliptic are called the ascending and descending nodes, have an uneven retrograde motion and complete a full revolution along the ecliptic in 6794 days (about 18.6 years), as a result of which the Moon returns to the same node after a time interval - the so-called draconic month - shorter than the sidereal month and on average equal to 27.21222 days; This month is associated with the frequency of solar and lunar eclipses.
The visual magnitude (a measure of illumination created by a celestial body) of the full Moon at an average distance is - 12.7; It sends 465,000 times less light to Earth during a full moon than the Sun.
Depending on what phase the Moon is in, the amount of light decreases much faster than the area of the illuminated part of the Moon, so when the Moon is at quarter and we see half of its disk bright, it is sending to Earth not 50%, but only 8 % of light from the full moon.
The color index of moonlight is +1.2, i.e. it is noticeably redder than sunlight.
The Moon rotates relative to the Sun with a period equal to a synodic month, so a day on the Moon lasts almost 15 days and the night lasts the same amount.
Not being protected by the atmosphere, the surface of the Moon heats up to +110° C during the day and cools down to -120° C at night, however, as radio observations have shown, these huge temperature fluctuations penetrate only a few dm deep due to the extremely weak thermal conductivity of the surface layers. For the same reason, during total lunar eclipses, the heated surface quickly cools, although some places retain heat longer, probably due to high heat capacity (so-called “hot spots”).
Relief of the Moon
Even with the naked eye, irregular darkish extended spots are visible on the Moon, which were mistaken for seas: the name was preserved, although it was established that these formations have nothing in common with the seas of the Earth. Telescopic observations, which were started in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, made it possible to discover the mountainous structure of the lunar surface.
It turned out that the seas are plains of a darker shade than other areas, sometimes called continental (or mainland), replete with mountains, most of which are ring-shaped (craters).
Based on many years of observations, detailed maps of the Moon were compiled. The first such maps were published in 1647 by Jan Hevelius (German: Johannes Hevel, Polish: Jan Heweliusz) in Danzig (modern Gdansk, Poland). Retaining the term “seas,” he also assigned names to the main lunar ridges - after similar terrestrial formations: the Apennines, the Caucasus, the Alps.
Giovanni Batista Riccioli from Ferrara (Italy) in 1651 gave fantastic names to the vast dark lowlands: Ocean of Storms, Sea of Crises, Sea of Tranquility, Sea of Rains and so on; he called smaller dark areas adjacent to the seas bays, for example , Rainbow Bay, and small irregular spots are swamps, such as the Swamp of Rot. He named individual mountains, mostly ring-shaped, after prominent scientists: Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho Brahe and others.
These names have been preserved on lunar maps to this day, and many new names of outstanding people and scientists of later times have been added. On maps of the far side of the Moon, compiled from observations made from space probes and artificial satellites of the Moon, the names of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin and others appeared. Detailed and accurate maps of the Moon were compiled from telescopic observations in the 19th century by German astronomers Johann Heinrich Madler, Johann Schmidt and others.
The maps were compiled in an orthographic projection for the middle phase of libration, i.e. approximately as the Moon is visible from the Earth.
At the end of the 19th century, photographic observations of the Moon began. In 1896–1910, a large atlas of the Moon was published by French astronomers Morris Loewy and Pierre Henri Puiseux based on photographs taken at the Paris Observatory; later, a photographic album of the Moon was published by the Lick Observatory in the USA, and in the mid-20th century, the Dutch astronomer Gerard Copier compiled several detailed atlases of photographs of the Moon taken with large telescopes at various astronomical observatories. With the help of modern telescopes, craters measuring about 0.7 kilometers in size and cracks a few hundred meters wide can be seen on the Moon.
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. The absolute age of lunar formations is known so far only at a few points.
Scientists were able to establish 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, i.e. 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 several tens of meters to hundreds of 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 Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev.
The study of the properties of the Moon and its environment began in 1966 - the Luna-9 station was launched, transmitting panoramic images of the lunar surface to Earth.
The stations “Luna-10” and “Luna-11” (1966) were involved in studies of cislunar space. Luna 10 became the first artificial satellite of the Moon.
At this time, the United States was also developing a lunar exploration program called The Apollo Program. It was the American astronauts who were the first to set foot on the surface of the planet. On July 21, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 lunar mission, Neil Alden Armstrong and his partner Edwin Eugene Aldrin spent 2.5 hours on the Moon.
The next stage in lunar exploration was the sending of radio-controlled self-propelled vehicles to the planet. In November 1970, Lunokhod-1 was delivered to the Moon, which covered a distance of 10,540 m in 11 lunar days (or 10.5 months) and transmitted a large number of panoramas, individual photographs of the lunar surface and other scientific information. The French reflector installed on it made it possible to measure the distance to the Moon using a laser beam with an accuracy of a fraction of a meter.
In February 1972, the Luna 20 station delivered to Earth samples of lunar soil, taken for the first time in a remote area of the Moon.
In February of the same year, the last manned flight to the Moon took place. The flight was carried out by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft. In total, 12 people have visited the Moon.
In January 1973, Luna 21 delivered Lunokhod 2 to the Lemonier crater (Sea of Clarity) for a comprehensive study of the transition zone between the marine and continental regions. Lunokhod-2 operated for 5 lunar days (4 months) and covered a distance of about 37 kilometers.
In August 1976, the Luna-24 station delivered samples of lunar soil to Earth from a depth of 120 centimeters (the samples were obtained by drilling).
Since that time, there has been virtually no study of the Earth's natural satellite.
Only two decades later, in 1990, Japan sent its artificial satellite Hiten to the Moon, becoming the third “lunar power”. Then there were two more American satellites - Clementine (1994) and Lunar Prospector (1998). At this point, flights to the Moon were suspended.
On September 27, 2003, the European Space Agency launched the SMART-1 probe from Kourou (Guiana, Africa). On September 3, 2006, the probe completed its mission and made a manned fall onto the lunar surface. Over the three years of operation, the device transmitted to Earth a lot of information about the lunar surface, and also carried out high-resolution cartography of the Moon.
Currently, the study of the Moon has received a new start. Programs for the development of the earth's satellite operate in Russia, the USA, Japan, China, and India.
According to the head of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Anatoly Perminov, the concept for the development of Russian manned space exploration provides for a program for the exploration of the Moon in 2025-2030.
Legal issues of lunar exploration
Legal issues of lunar exploration are regulated by the “Outer Space Treaty” (full name “Treaty on the principles of the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies”). It was signed on January 27, 1967 in Moscow, Washington and London by the depositary states - the USSR, the USA and the UK. On the same day, other states began joining the treaty.
According to it, the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, regardless of the degree of their economic and scientific development, and space and celestial bodies are open to all states without any discrimination on the basis of equality .
The Moon, in accordance with the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty, must be used “exclusively for peaceful purposes,” and any military activities on it are excluded. The list of activities prohibited on the Moon, given in Article IV of the Treaty, includes the deployment of nuclear weapons or any other types of weapons of mass destruction, the creation of military bases, structures and fortifications, the testing of any types of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers.
Private property on the Moon
The sale of parts of the Earth's natural satellite began in 1980, when American Denis Hope discovered a California law from 1862, according to which no one's property passed into the possession of the one who first laid claim to it.
The Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967, stated that “outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation,” but there was no clause stating that space objects could not be privately privatized, which and allowed Hope register ownership of the moon and all the planets of the solar system, excluding Earth.
Hope opened a Lunar Embassy in the United States and organized wholesale and retail trade in the lunar surface. He successfully runs his “lunar” business, selling plots on the Moon to those interested.
To become a citizen of the Moon, you need to purchase a plot of land, receive a notarized certificate of ownership, a lunar map with the designation of the plot, its description, and even the “Lunar Bill of Constitutional Rights.” You can obtain lunar citizenship for some money by purchasing a lunar passport.
Title is registered at the Lunar Embassy in Rio Vista, California, USA. The process of processing and receiving documents takes from two to four days.
At the moment, Mr. Hope is busy creating the Lunar Republic and promoting it to the UN. The still-failed republic has its own national holiday - Lunar Independence Day, which is celebrated on November 22.
Currently, a standard plot on the Moon has an area of 1 acre (just over 40 acres). Since 1980, about 1,300 thousand plots have been sold out of the approximately 5 million that were “cut” on the map of the illuminated side of the Moon.
It is known that among the owners of lunar plots are American presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, members of six royal families and about 500 millionaires, mainly from among Hollywood stars - Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Mick Jagger, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dennis Hopper and others.
Lunar missions opened in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus, and more than 10 thousand residents of the CIS became owners of lunar lands. Among them are Oleg Basilashvili, Semyon Altov, Alexander Rosenbaum, Yuri Shevchuk, Oleg Garkusha, Yuri Stoyanov, Ilya Oleynikov, Ilya Lagutenko, as well as cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev and other famous figures.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Moon- the only celestial body that orbits the Earth, not counting the artificial Earth satellites created by man in recent years.
The moon continuously moves across the starry sky and, in relation to any star, per day moves towards the daily rotation of the sky by approximately 13°, and after 27.1/3 days it returns to the same stars, having described a full circle in the celestial sphere. Therefore, the period of time during which the Moon makes a complete revolution around the Earth in relation to the stars is called sidereal (or sidereal)) month; it is 27.1/3 days. The Moon moves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit, so the distance from the Earth to the Moon changes by almost 50 thousand km. The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is taken to be 384,386 km (rounded - 400,000 km). This is ten times the length of the Earth's equator.
Moon It itself does not emit light, so only its surface, the daylight side, illuminated by the Sun, is visible in the sky. Night time, dark, not visible. Moving across the sky from west to east, in 1 hour the Moon shifts against the background of stars by about half a degree, i.e., by an amount close to its apparent size, and in 24 hours - by 13º. FOR a month, the Moon in the sky catches up and overtakes the Sun, and the lunar phases change: new moon , first quarter , full moon And last quarter .
IN new moon The moon cannot be seen even with a telescope. It is located in the same direction as the Sun (only above or below it), and is turned towards the Earth by the night hemisphere. Two days later, when the Moon moves away from the Sun, a narrow crescent can be seen a few minutes before its sunset in the western sky against the background of the evening dawn. The first appearance of the lunar crescent after the new moon was called “neomenia” (“new moon”) by the Greeks. From this moment the lunar month begins.
7 days 10 hours after the new moon, a phase called first quarter. During this time, the Moon moved away from the Sun by 90º. From Earth, only the right half of the lunar disk, illuminated by the Sun, is visible. After sunset Moon is in the southern sky and sets around midnight. Continuing to move from the Sun more and more to the left. Moon in the evening it appears already on the eastern side of the sky. She comes in after midnight, every day later and later.
When Moon appears in the direction opposite to the Sun (at an angular distance of 180 from it), comes full moon. 14 days and 18 hours have passed since the new moon. After that Moon begins to approach the Sun from the right.
There is a decrease in illumination of the right part of the lunar disk. The angular distance between it and the Sun decreases from 180 to 90º. Again, only half of the lunar disk is visible, but its left part. 22 days 3 hours have passed since the new moon. last quarter. The moon rises around midnight and shines throughout the second half of the night, ending up in the southern sky by sunrise.
The width of the lunar crescent continues to decrease, and Moon gradually approaches the Sun from the right (western) side. Appearing in the eastern sky, every day later, the lunar crescent becomes very narrow, but its horns are turned to the right and look like the letter “C”.
They say, Moon old An ashen light is visible on the night part of the disk. The angular distance between the Moon and the Sun decreases to 0º. Finally, Moon catches up with the Sun and becomes invisible again. The next new moon is coming. The lunar month has ended. 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.8 seconds passed, or almost 29.53 days. This period is called synodic month (from the Greek sy "nodos-connection, rapprochement).
The synodic period is associated with the visible position of the celestial body relative to the Sun in the sky. Lunar a synodic month is the period of time between successive phases of the same name Moons.
Your path in the sky relative to the stars Moon completes 7 hours 43 minutes 11.5 seconds in 27 days (rounded - 27.32 days). This period is called sidereal (from Latin sideris - star), or sidereal month .
No. 7 Eclipse of the Moon and the Sun, their analysis.
Solar and lunar eclipses are an interesting natural phenomenon, familiar to man since ancient times. They occur relatively often, but are not visible from all areas of the earth’s surface and therefore seem rare to many.
A solar eclipse occurs when our natural satellite - the Moon - in its movement passes against the background of the Sun's disk. This always happens at the time of the new moon. The Moon is located closer to the Earth than the Sun, almost 400 times, and at the same time its diameter is also approximately 400 times smaller than the diameter of the Sun. Therefore, the apparent sizes of the Earth and the Sun are almost the same, and the Moon can cover the Sun. But not every new moon there is a solar eclipse. Due to the tilt of the Moon's orbit relative to Earth's orbit, the Moon usually "misses" slightly and passes above or below the Sun at the time of the new moon. However, at least 2 times a year (but no more than five) the shadow of the Moon falls on the Earth and a solar eclipse occurs.
The lunar shadow and penumbra fall on the Earth in the form of oval spots, which travel at a speed of 1 km. per second run across the earth's surface from west to east. In areas that are in the lunar shadow, a total solar eclipse is visible, that is, the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon. In areas covered by penumbra, a partial solar eclipse occurs, that is, the Moon covers only part of the solar disk. Beyond the penumbra, no eclipse occurs at all.
The longest duration of the total eclipse phase does not exceed 7 minutes. 31 sec. But most often it is two to three minutes.
A solar eclipse starts from the right edge of the Sun. When the Moon completely covers the Sun, twilight sets in, as in dark twilight, and the brightest stars and planets appear in the darkened sky, and around the Sun you can see a beautiful radiant glow of pearl color - the solar corona, which is the outer layers of the solar atmosphere, not visible outside the eclipse. for their low brightness compared to the brightness of the daytime sky. The appearance of the corona changes from year to year depending on solar activity. A pink glow ring flashes above the entire horizon - this is the area covered by the lunar shadow, where sunlight penetrates from neighboring zones where a total eclipse does not occur, but only a partial eclipse is observed.
SOLAR AND LUNAR ECLIPSE
The Sun, Moon and Earth in the new moon and full moon stages rarely lie on the same line, because The lunar orbit does not lie exactly in the plane of the ecliptic, but at an inclination of 5 degrees to it.
Solar eclipses new moon. The Moon blocks the Sun from us.
Lunar eclipses. The Sun, Moon and Earth lie on the same line in the stage full moon. The Earth blocks the Moon from the Sun. The moon turns brick red.
Every year there are on average 4 solar and lunar eclipses. They always accompany each other. For example, if the new moon coincides with a solar eclipse, then the lunar eclipse occurs two weeks later, in the full moon phase.
Astronomically, solar eclipses occur when the Moon, as it moves around the Sun, completely or partially obscures the Sun. The apparent diameters of the Sun and the Moon are almost the same, so the Moon completely obscures the Sun. But this is visible from the Earth in the full phase band. A partial solar eclipse is observed on both sides of the total phase band.
The width of the band of the total phase of a solar eclipse and its duration depend on the mutual distances of the Sun, Earth and Moon. As a result of changes in distances, the apparent angular diameter of the Moon also changes. When it is slightly larger than the solar eclipse, a total eclipse can last up to 7.5 minutes; when it is equal, then one instant; if it is smaller, then the Moon does not completely cover the Sun. In the latter case, an annular eclipse occurs: a narrow bright solar ring is visible around the dark lunar disk.
During a total solar eclipse, the Sun appears as a black disk surrounded by a radiance (corona). Daylight is so weak that you can sometimes see stars in the sky.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon enters the Earth's shadow.
A total lunar eclipse can last 1.5-2 hours. It can be observed from all over the night hemisphere of the Earth, where the Moon was above the horizon at the time of the eclipse. Therefore, in this area, total lunar eclipses can be observed much more often than solar eclipses.
During a total lunar eclipse of the Moon, the lunar disk remains visible, but takes on a dark red hue.
A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon, and a lunar eclipse occurs on a full moon. Most often there are two lunar and two solar eclipses in a year. The maximum possible number of eclipses is seven. After a certain period of time, lunar and solar eclipses are repeated in the same order. This interval was called saros, which translated from Egyptian means repetition. Saros is approximately 18 years, 11 days. During each Saros there are 70 eclipses, of which 42 are solar and 28 are lunar. Total solar eclipses from a certain area are observed less frequently than lunar eclipses, once every 200-300 years.
CONDITIONS FOR A SUN ECLIPSE
During a solar eclipse, the Moon passes between us and the Sun and hides it from us. Let us consider in more detail the conditions under which a solar eclipse can occur.
Our planet Earth, rotating around its axis during the day, simultaneously moves around the Sun and makes a full revolution in a year. The Earth has a satellite - the Moon. The Moon moves around the Earth and completes a full revolution in 29 1/2 days.
The relative position of these three celestial bodies changes all the time. During its movement around the Earth, the Moon at certain periods of time finds itself between the Earth and the Sun. But the Moon is a dark, opaque solid ball. Finding itself between the Earth and the Sun, it, like a huge curtain, covers the Sun. At this time, the side of the Moon that faces the Earth turns out to be dark and unlit. Therefore, a solar eclipse can only occur during a new moon. During a full moon, the Moon passes away from the Earth in the direction opposite to the Sun and may fall into the shadow cast by the globe. Then we will observe a lunar eclipse.
The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 149.5 million km, and the average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384 thousand km.
The closer an object is, the larger it seems to us. The Moon, compared to the Sun, is almost 400 times closer to us, and at the same time its diameter is also approximately 400 times less than the diameter of the Sun. Therefore, the apparent sizes of the Moon and the Sun are almost the same. The Moon can thus block the Sun from us.
However, the distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth do not remain constant, but change slightly. This happens because the path of the Earth around the Sun and the path of the Moon around the Earth are not circles, but ellipses. As the distances between these bodies change, their apparent sizes also change.
If at the moment of a solar eclipse the Moon is at its smallest distance from the Earth, then the lunar disk will be slightly larger than the solar one. The Moon will completely cover the Sun, and the eclipse will be total. If during an eclipse the Moon is at its greatest distance from the Earth, then it will have a slightly smaller apparent size and will not be able to cover the Sun entirely. The light rim of the Sun will remain uncovered, which during an eclipse will be visible as a bright thin ring around the black disk of the Moon. This type of eclipse is called an annular eclipse.
It would seem that solar eclipses should occur monthly, every new moon. However, this does not happen. If the Earth and the Moon moved in a visible plane, then at every new moon the Moon would actually be exactly in a straight line connecting the Earth and the Sun, and an eclipse would occur. In fact, the Earth moves around the Sun in one plane, and the Moon around the Earth in another. These planes do not coincide. Therefore, often during new moons the Moon comes either higher than the Sun or lower.
The apparent path of the Moon in the sky does not coincide with the path along which the Sun moves. These paths intersect at two opposite points, which are called the nodes of the lunar orbit. Near these points, the paths of the Sun and Moon come close to each other. And only when the new moon occurs near a node is it accompanied by an eclipse.
The eclipse will be total or annular if the Sun and Moon are almost at a node at the new moon. If the Sun at the moment of the new moon is at some distance from the node, then the centers of the lunar and solar disks will not coincide and the Moon will only partially cover the Sun. Such an eclipse is called a partial eclipse.
The moon moves among the stars from west to east. Therefore, the covering of the Sun by the Moon begins from its western, i.e., right, edge. The degree of closure is called the eclipse phase by astronomers.
Around the spot of the lunar shadow there is a penumbral region, here a partial eclipse occurs. The diameter of the penumbra region is about 6-7 thousand km. For an observer located near the edge of this region, only a small fraction of the solar disk will be covered by the Moon. Such an eclipse may go unnoticed altogether.
Is it possible to accurately predict the occurrence of an eclipse? Scientists in ancient times established that after 6585 days and 8 hours, which is 18 years 11 days 8 hours, eclipses are repeated. This happens because it is after such a period of time that the location in space of the Moon, Earth and Sun is repeated. This interval was called saros, which means repetition.
During one Saros there are on average 43 solar eclipses, of which 15 are partial, 15 are annular and 13 are total. By adding 18 years, 11 days and 8 hours to the dates of eclipses observed during one saros, we can predict the occurrence of eclipses in the future.
In the same place on Earth, a total solar eclipse is observed once every 250 - 300 years.
Astronomers have calculated the visibility conditions for solar eclipses many years in advance.
LUNAR ECLIPSE
Lunar eclipses are also among the “extraordinary” celestial phenomena. This is how they happen. The full light circle of the Moon begins to darken at its left edge, a round brown shadow appears on the lunar disk, it moves further and further and after about an hour covers the entire Moon. The moon fades and turns red-brown.
The diameter of the Earth is almost 4 times larger than the diameter of the Moon, and the shadow from the Earth, even at the distance of the Moon from the Earth, is more than 2 1/2 times the size of the Moon. Therefore, the Moon can be completely immersed in the Earth's shadow. A total lunar eclipse is much longer than a solar eclipse: it can last 1 hour and 40 minutes.
For the same reason that solar eclipses do not occur every new moon, lunar eclipses do not occur every full moon. The largest number of lunar eclipses in a year is 3, but there are years without any eclipses at all; This was the case, for example, in 1951.
Lunar eclipses recur after the same period of time as solar eclipses. During this interval, in 18 years 11 days 8 hours (saros), there are 28 lunar eclipses, of which 15 are partial and 13 are total. As you can see, the number of lunar eclipses in Saros is significantly less than solar eclipses, and yet lunar eclipses can be observed more often than solar ones. This is explained by the fact that the Moon, plunging into the shadow of the Earth, ceases to be visible on the entire half of the Earth not illuminated by the Sun. This means that each lunar eclipse is visible over a much larger area than any solar eclipse.
The eclipsed Moon does not disappear completely, like the Sun during a solar eclipse, but is faintly visible. This happens because some of the sun's rays come through the earth's atmosphere, are refracted in it, enter the earth's shadow and hit the moon. Since the red rays of the spectrum are least scattered and weakened in the atmosphere. During an eclipse, the moon takes on a copper-red or brown hue.
CONCLUSION
It is difficult to imagine that solar eclipses occur so often: after all, each of us has to observe eclipses extremely rarely. This is explained by the fact that during a solar eclipse the shadow from the Moon does not fall on the entire Earth. The fallen shadow has the shape of an almost circular spot, the diameter of which can reach at most 270 km. This spot will cover only a negligible fraction of the earth's surface. At the moment, only this part of the Earth will see a total solar eclipse.
The moon moves in its orbit at a speed of about 1 km/sec, i.e. faster than a gun bullet. Consequently, its shadow moves at high speed along the earth's surface and cannot cover any one place on the globe for a long time. Therefore, a total solar eclipse can never last more than 8 minutes.
Thus, the lunar shadow, moving across the Earth, describes a narrow but long strip, in which a total solar eclipse is successively observed. The length of the total solar eclipse reaches several thousand kilometers. And yet the area covered by the shadow turns out to be insignificant compared to the entire surface of the Earth. In addition, oceans, deserts and sparsely populated areas of the Earth are often in the zone of total eclipse.
The sequence of eclipses repeats itself almost exactly in the same order over a period of time called a saros (saros is the Egyptian word meaning “repetition”). Saros, known in ancient times, is 18 years and 11.3 days. Indeed, eclipses will be repeated in the same order (after any initial eclipse) after as much time as is necessary for the same phase of the Moon to occur at the same distance of the Moon from the node of its orbit as during the initial eclipse.
During each Saros there are 70 eclipses, of which 41 are solar and 29 are lunar. Thus, solar eclipses occur more often than lunar eclipses, but at a given point on the Earth’s surface, lunar eclipses can be observed more often, since they are visible over the entire hemisphere of the Earth, while solar eclipses are visible only in a relatively narrow band. It is especially rare to see total solar eclipses, although there are about 10 of them during each Saros.
No. 8 The Earth is like a ball, an ellipsoid of revolution, a 3-axis ellipsoid, a geoid.
Assumptions about the spherical shape of the earth appeared in the 6th century BC, and from the 4th century BC some of the evidence known to us was expressed that the Earth is spherical in shape (Pythagoras, Eratosthenes). Ancient scientists proved the sphericity of the Earth based on the following phenomena:
- circular view of the horizon in open spaces, plains, seas, etc.;
- the circular shadow of the Earth on the surface of the Moon during lunar eclipses;
- change in the height of stars when moving from north (N) to south (S) and back, due to the convexity of the noon line, etc. In his essay “On the Heavens,” Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) indicated that The earth is not only spherical in shape, but also has finite dimensions; Archimedes (287 - 212 BC) proved that the surface of water in a calm state is a spherical surface. They also introduced the concept of the Earth's spheroid as a geometric figure close in shape to a ball.
The modern theory of studying the figure of the Earth originates from Newton (1643 - 1727), who discovered the law of universal gravitation and applied it to study the figure of the Earth.
By the end of the 80s of the 17th century, the laws of planetary motion around the Sun were known, the very precise dimensions of the globe determined by Picard from degree measurements (1670), the fact that the acceleration of gravity on the Earth's surface decreases from north (N) to south (S ), Galileo's laws of mechanics and Huygens' research on the motion of bodies along a curvilinear trajectory. A generalization of these phenomena and facts led scientists to a well-founded view about the spheroidality of the Earth, i.e. its deformation in the direction of the poles (flatness).
Newton's famous work, “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” (1867), sets out a new doctrine about the figure of the Earth. Newton came to the conclusion that the figure of the Earth should be shaped like an ellipsoid of rotation with slight polar compression (this fact was justified by him by decreasing the length of the second pendulum with decreasing latitude and decreasing gravity from pole to equator due to the fact that “Earth slightly higher at the equator").
Based on the hypothesis that the Earth consists of a homogeneous mass of density, Newton theoretically determined the polar compression of the Earth (α) in a first approximation to be approximately 1: 230. In fact, the Earth is heterogeneous: the crust has a density of 2.6 g/cm3, while The average density of the Earth is 5.52 g/cm3. The uneven distribution of the Earth's masses produces extensive gentle convexities and concavities, which combine to form hills, depressions, depressions and other shapes. Note that individual elevations above the Earth reach heights of more than 8000 meters above the ocean surface. It is known that the surface of the World Ocean (MO) occupies 71%, land – 29%; the average depth of the World Ocean is 3800 m, and the average height of land is 875 m. The total area of the earth's surface is 510 x 106 km2. From the given data it follows that most of the Earth is covered with water, which gives grounds to accept it as a level surface (LS) and, ultimately, as the general figure of the Earth. The figure of the Earth can be represented by imagining a surface at each point of which the force of gravity is directed normal to it (along a plumb line).
The complex figure of the Earth, limited by a level surface, which is the beginning of the report of heights, is usually called a geoid. Otherwise, the surface of the geoid, as an equipotential surface, is fixed by the surface of oceans and seas that are in a calm state. Under continents, the geoid surface is defined as the surface perpendicular to the field lines (Figure 3-1).
P.S. The name of the Earth's figure - geoid - was proposed by the German physicist I.B. Listig (1808 – 1882). When mapping the earth's surface, based on many years of research by scientists, the complex geoid figure, without compromising accuracy, is replaced by a mathematically simpler one - ellipsoid of revolution. Ellipsoid of revolution– a geometric body formed as a result of rotation of an ellipse around a minor axis.
The ellipsoid of rotation comes close to the geoid body (the deviation does not exceed 150 meters in some places). The dimensions of the earth's ellipsoid were determined by many scientists around the world.
Fundamental studies of the figure of the Earth, carried out by Russian scientists F.N. Krasovsky and A.A. Izotov, made it possible to develop the idea of a triaxial earth ellipsoid, taking into account large geoid waves, as a result of which its main parameters were obtained.
In recent years (late 20th and early 21st centuries), the parameters of the Earth’s figure and external gravitational potential have been determined using space objects and the use of astronomical, geodetic and gravimetric research methods so reliably that now we are talking about assessing their measurements in time.
The triaxial terrestrial ellipsoid, which characterizes the figure of the Earth, is divided into a general terrestrial ellipsoid (planetary), suitable for solving global problems of cartography and geodesy, and a reference ellipsoid, which is used in individual regions, countries of the world and their parts. An ellipsoid of revolution (spheroid) is a surface of revolution in three-dimensional space, formed by rotating an ellipse around one of its main axes. An ellipsoid of revolution is a geometric body formed as a result of the rotation of an ellipse around a minor axis.
Geoid- the figure of the Earth, limited by the level surface of the gravity potential, which coincides in the oceans with the average ocean level and is extended under the continents (continents and islands) so that this surface is everywhere perpendicular to the direction of gravity. The surface of the geoid is smoother than the physical surface of the Earth.
The shape of the geoid does not have an exact mathematical expression, and to construct cartographic projections, the correct geometric figure is selected, which differs little from the geoid. The best approximation of the geoid is the figure obtained by rotating an ellipse around a short axis (ellipsoid)
The term "geoid" was coined in 1873 by German mathematician Johann Benedict Listing to refer to a geometric figure, more precisely than an ellipsoid of revolution, that reflects the unique shape of planet Earth.
An extremely complex figure is the geoid. It exists only theoretically, but in practice it cannot be touched or seen. You can imagine the geoid as a surface, the force of gravity at each point of which is directed strictly vertically. If our planet were a regular sphere filled evenly with some substance, then the plumb line at any point would point to the center of the sphere. But the situation is complicated by the fact that the density of our planet is heterogeneous. In some places there are heavy rocks, in others there are voids, mountains and depressions are scattered across the entire surface, and plains and seas are also unevenly distributed. All this changes the gravitational potential at each specific point. The fact that the shape of the globe is a geoid is also to blame for the ethereal wind that blows our planet from the north.
The orbit of the Moon is the trajectory along which the Moon rotates around a common center of mass with the Earth, located approximately 4700 km from the center of the Earth. Each revolution takes 27.3 Earth days and is called a sidereal month.
The Moon is the natural satellite of the Earth and the closest celestial body to it.
Rice. 1. Orbit of the Moon 
Rice. 2. Sidereal and synodic months
It revolves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit in the same direction as the Earth around the Sun. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 384,400 km. The plane of the Moon’s orbit is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic by 5.09’ (Fig. 1).
The points where the Moon's orbit intersects the ecliptic are called the nodes of the lunar orbit. The movement of the Moon around the Earth appears to the observer as its visible movement across the celestial sphere. The apparent path of the Moon across the celestial sphere is called the apparent orbit of the Moon. During the day, the Moon moves in its visible orbit relative to the stars by approximately 13.2°, and relative to the Sun by 12.2°, since the Sun also moves along the ecliptic by an average of 1° during this time. The period of time during which the Moon makes a full revolution in its orbit relative to the stars is called a sidereal month. Its duration is 27.32 average solar days.
The period of time during which the Moon makes a full revolution in its orbit relative to the Sun is called the synodic month.
It is equal to 29.53 average solar days. The sidereal and synodic months differ by approximately two days due to the movement of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. In Fig. Figure 2 shows that when the Earth is in orbit at point 1, the Moon and the Sun are observed on the celestial sphere in the same place, for example, against the background of the star K. After 27.32 days, i.e., when the Moon makes a full revolution around the Earth, it will again be observed against the background of the same star. But since the Earth, together with the Moon, will move in its orbit relative to the Sun by approximately 27° during this time and will be at point 2, the Moon still needs to travel 27° to take its previous position relative to the Earth and the Sun, which will take about 2 days . Thus, the synodic month is longer than the sidereal month by the length of time that the Moon needs to move 27°.
The period of rotation of the Moon around its axis is equal to the period of its revolution around the Earth. Therefore, the Moon always faces the Earth with the same side. Due to the fact that in one day the Moon moves across the celestial sphere from west to east, i.e., in the direction opposite to the daily movement of the celestial sphere, by 13.2°, its rising and setting are delayed by approximately 50 minutes every day. This daily delay causes the Moon to continuously change its position relative to the Sun, but after a strictly defined period of time it returns to its original position. As a result of the movement of the Moon along its visible orbit, there is a continuous and rapid change in its equatorial
coordinates On average, per day the Moon's right ascension changes by 13.2°, and its declination by 4°. The change in the equatorial coordinates of the Moon occurs not only due to its rapid movement in orbit around the Earth, but also due to the extraordinary complexity of this movement. The Moon is subject to many forces of varying magnitude and period, under the influence of which all elements of the lunar orbit are constantly changing.
The inclination of the Moon's orbit to the ecliptic ranges from 4°59' to 5°19' over a period of slightly less than six months. The shapes and sizes of the orbit change. The position of the orbit in space changes continuously with a period of 18.6 years, as a result of which the nodes of the lunar orbit move towards the movement of the Moon. This leads to a constant change in the angle of inclination of the visible orbit of the Moon to the celestial equator from 28°35’ to 18°17’. Therefore, the limits of change in the declination of the Moon do not remain constant. In some periods it varies within ±28°35', and in others - ±18°17'.
The declination of the Moon and its Greenwich hour angle are given in the daily MAE tables for each hour of Greenwich time.
The movement of the Moon on the celestial sphere is accompanied by a continuous change in its appearance. The so-called change of lunar phases occurs. The phase of the Moon is the visible part of the lunar surface illuminated by the sun's rays.
Let's consider what causes the lunar phases to change. It is known that the Moon shines by reflected sunlight. Half of its surface is always illuminated by the Sun. But due to the different relative positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth, the illuminated surface appears to the earthly observer in different forms (Fig. 3).
It is customary to distinguish between four phases of the moon: new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter.
During the new moon, the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. In this phase, the Moon faces the Earth with its unlit side, and therefore it is not visible to an observer on Earth. In the first quarter phase, the Moon is in such a position that the observer sees it as half an illuminated disk. During a full moon, the Moon is in the opposite direction to the Sun. Therefore, the entire illuminated side of the Moon faces the Earth and is visible as a full disk. 
Rice. 3. Positions and phases of the Moon:
1 - new moon; 2 - first quarter; 3 - full moon; 4 - last quarter
After the full moon, the illuminated part of the Moon visible from the Earth gradually decreases. When the Moon reaches its last quarter phase, it is again visible as a half-lit disk. In the Northern Hemisphere, in the first quarter, the right half of the Moon’s disk is illuminated, and in the last quarter, the left half is illuminated.
In the interval between the new moon and the first quarter and in the interval between the last quarter and the new moon, a small part of the illuminated Moon faces the Earth, which is observed in the form of a crescent. In the intervals between the first quarter and the full moon, the full moon and the last quarter, the Moon is visible in the form of a damaged disk. The full cycle of changing lunar phases occurs within a strictly defined period of time. It is called the phase period. It is equal to the synodic month, i.e. 29.53 days.
The time interval between the main phases of the Moon is approximately 7 days. The number of days that have passed since the new moon is usually called the age of the moon. As age changes, the moonrise and moonset points also change. The dates and moments of the onset of the main phases of the Moon according to Greenwich time are given in MAE.
The movement of the Moon around the Earth causes lunar and solar eclipses. Eclipses occur only when the Sun and Moon are simultaneously located near the nodes of the lunar orbit. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth, i.e. during the new moon, and a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, i.e. during the full moon.
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Why doesn't the moon rotate and we only see one side? June 18th, 2018
As many have already noticed, the Moon always faces the same side towards the Earth. The question arises: is the rotation of these celestial bodies around their axes synchronous relative to each other?
Although the Moon rotates around its axis, it always faces the same side to the Earth, that is, the Moon’s revolution around the Earth and its rotation around its own axis are synchronized. This synchronization is caused by the friction of the tides that the Earth produced in the Moon's shell.
Another mystery: does the Moon rotate on its axis at all? The answer to this question lies in resolving the semantic problem: who is at the forefront - an observer located on Earth (in this case, the Moon does not rotate around its axis), or an observer located in extraterrestrial space (then the only satellite of our planet rotates around its axis).
Let's carry out this simple experiment: draw two circles of the same radius, touching each other. Now imagine them as disks and mentally roll one disk along the edge of the other. In this case, the rims of the discs must be in continuous contact. So, how many times do you think the rolling disk will turn around its axis, making a full revolution around the static disk. Most will say once. To test this assumption, let's take two coins of the same size and repeat the experiment in practice. So what's the result? A rolling coin has time to turn around its axis twice before it makes one revolution around a stationary coin! Surprised?
On the other hand, does a rolling coin rotate? The answer to this question, as in the case of the Earth and the Moon, depends on the observer's frame of reference. Relative to the initial point of contact with the static coin, the moving coin makes one revolution. Relative to an outside observer, during one revolution around a stationary coin, a rolling coin turns twice.
Following the publication of this coin problem in Scientific American in 1867, the editors were literally inundated with letters from indignant readers who held the opposite opinion. They almost immediately drew a parallel between the paradoxes with coins and celestial bodies (Earth and Moon). Those who held the point of view that a moving coin, in one revolution around a stationary coin, manages to turn around its own axis once, were inclined to think about the inability of the Moon to rotate around its own axis. The activity of readers regarding this problem increased so much that in April 1868 it was announced that the debate on this topic was ending in the pages of the Scientific American magazine. It was decided to continue the debate in the magazine The Wheel, specially dedicated to this “great” problem. At least one issue came out. In addition to illustrations, it contained various drawings and diagrams of intricate devices created by readers in order to convince editors that they were wrong.
Various effects generated by the rotation of celestial bodies can be detected using devices like the Foucault pendulum. If it is placed on the Moon, it will turn out that the Moon, rotating around the Earth, rotates around its own axis.
Can these physical considerations serve as an argument confirming the rotation of the Moon around its axis, regardless of the observer’s frame of reference? Oddly enough, from the point of view of general relativity, probably not. In general, we can assume that the Moon does not rotate at all, it is the Universe that rotates around it, creating gravitational fields like the Moon rotating in motionless space. Of course, it is more convenient to take the Universe as a stationary frame of reference. However, if you think objectively, with regard to the theory of relativity, the question of whether this or that object really rotates or is at rest is generally meaningless. Only relative motion can be “real.”
To illustrate, imagine that the Earth and Moon are connected by a rod. The rod is fixed on both sides rigidly in one place. This is a situation of mutual synchronization - both one side of the Moon is visible from the Earth, and one side of the Earth is visible from the Moon. But this is not the case here; this is how Pluto and Charon rotate. But we have a situation where one end is rigidly fixed to the Moon, and the other moves along the surface of the Earth. Thus, one side of the Moon is visible from the Earth, and different sides of the Earth are visible from the Moon.
Instead of a barbell, the force of gravity acts. And its “rigid attachment” causes tidal phenomena in the body, which gradually either slow down or speed up the rotation (depending on whether the satellite is rotating too fast or too slow).
Some other bodies in the Solar System are also already in such synchronization.
Thanks to photography, we can still see more than half of the surface of the Moon, not 50% - one side, but 59%. There is a phenomenon of libration - the apparent oscillatory movements of the Moon. They are caused by orbital irregularities (not ideal circles), tilts of the rotation axis, and tidal forces.
The Moon is tidally locked into the Earth. Tidal locking is a situation when the period of revolution of a satellite (Moon) around its axis coincides with the period of its revolution around the central body (Earth). In this case, the satellite always faces the central body with the same side, since it rotates around its axis in the same time that it takes for it to orbit around its partner. Tidal locking occurs during mutual motion and is characteristic of many large natural satellites of the planets of the Solar System, and is also used to stabilize some artificial satellites. When observing a synchronous satellite from the central body, only one side of the satellite is always visible. When observed from this side of the satellite, the central body “hangs” motionless in the sky. From the opposite side of the satellite, the central body is never visible.
Facts about the moon
There are lunar trees on Earth
Hundreds of tree seeds were carried to the Moon during the 1971 Apollo 14 mission. Former USFS employee Stuart Roosa took the seeds as personal cargo as part of a NASA/USFS project.
Upon returning to Earth, these seeds were germinated and the resulting lunar seedlings were planted throughout the United States as part of the country's bicentennial celebrations in 1977.
There's no dark side
Place your fist on the table, fingers down. You see the back of it. Someone on the other side of the table will see your knuckles. This is roughly how we see the Moon. Because it is tidally locked to our planet, we will always see it from the same perspective.
The concept of the “dark side” of the moon comes from popular culture—think Pink Floyd's 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon and the 1990 thriller of the same name—and actually means the far side, the night side. The one we never see and which is opposite to the side closest to us.
Over a period of time, we see more than half of the Moon, thanks to libration
The Moon moves along its orbital path and moves away from the Earth (at a rate of about one inch per year), accompanying our planet around the Sun.
If you were to zoom in on the Moon as it speeds up and slows down during this journey, you would also see that it wobbles from north to south and west to east in a motion known as libration. As a result of this movement, we see part of the sphere that is usually hidden (about nine percent).
However, we will never see another 41%.
Helium-3 from the Moon could solve Earth's energy problems
The solar wind is electrically charged and occasionally collides with the Moon and is absorbed by rocks on the lunar surface. One of the most valuable gases found in this wind and absorbed by the rocks is helium-3, a rare isotope of helium-4 (commonly used for balloons).
Helium-3 is perfect for meeting the needs of thermonuclear fusion reactors with subsequent energy generation.
One hundred tons of helium-3 could satisfy the Earth's energy needs for a year, according to Extreme Tech's calculations. The surface of the Moon contains about five million tons of helium-3, while on Earth there is only 15 tons.
The idea is this: we fly to the Moon, extract helium-3 in a mine, put it in tanks and send it to Earth. True, this may not happen very soon.
Is there any truth to the myths about the madness of the full moon?
Not really. The idea that the brain, one of the most watery organs of the human body, is influenced by the moon has its roots in legends going back several millennia to the time of Aristotle.
Since the Moon's gravitational pull controls the tides of Earth's oceans, and humans are 60% water (and 73% brain), Aristotle and the Roman scientist Pliny the Elder believed that the Moon must have a similar effect on ourselves.
This idea gave rise to the term "lunar madness", "Transylvanian effect" (which became widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages) and "lunar madness". 20th century films that linked the full moon with psychiatric disorders, car accidents, murders and other incidents added particular fuel to the fire.
In 2007, the government of the British seaside town of Brighton ordered additional police patrols during full moons (and on paydays too).
And yet science says there is no statistical connection between people's behavior and the full moon, according to several studies, one of which was conducted by American psychologists John Rotton and Ivan Kelly. It is unlikely that the Moon affects our psyche; rather, it simply adds light, in which it is convenient to commit crimes.
Missing moon rocks
In the 1970s, Richard Nixon's administration distributed rocks recovered from the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions to leaders of 270 countries.
Unfortunately, more than a hundred of these stones have gone missing and are believed to have ended up on the black market. While working for NASA in 1998, Joseph Gutheinz even conducted a covert operation called "Lunar Eclipse" to stop the illegal sale of these stones.
What was all the fuss about? A pea-sized piece of moon rock was valued at $5 million on the black market.
The moon belongs to Dennis Hope
At least that's what he thinks.
In 1980, exploiting a loophole in the 1967 UN Space Property Treaty that said "no country" could lay claim to the solar system, Nevada resident Dennis Hope wrote to the UN and declared a right to private property. They didn't answer him.
But why wait? Hope opened a lunar embassy and began selling one-acre lots for $19.99 each. For the UN, the solar system is almost the same as the world's oceans: outside the economic zone and belonging to every inhabitant of the Earth. Hope claimed to have sold extraterrestrial properties to celebrities and three former US presidents.
It is unclear whether Dennis Hope really does not understand the wording of the treaty or whether he is trying to force the legislature to make a legal assessment of its actions so that the development of celestial resources can begin under more transparent legal conditions.
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