Of all the celestial bodies the moon and our solar system capture our attention and fascination as astronomers. None significantly influences life on planet Earth more than the moon. When you think about it, we regard the moon with such significance that unlike the moons of other planets. Which we give names, we only refer to our only orbiting orb as the moon.
The moon works its way into our way of thinking. Our feelings about romance, poetry, and literature. It is not only early societies that ascribe mood swings, changes in social conduct, and changes in weather to the moon. Even today, a full moon can have a powerful effect on these forces, which we acknowledge even if we cannot explain them scientifically.
Ocean Tides
The ocean’s tides are the most apparent physical phenomenon directly affected by the moon’s gravity. The tides are an integral part of how marine life is regulated.
Few people know that when the orbits of the Earth bring the sun and moon into the correct alignment. At certain times of the year, there is a tidal effect on inland bodies of water and even on earth.
When the moon’s orbit was closer to the Earth, it was the effect of the moon that caused massive changes. In the land’s topography and continental drift. It reflects the powerful impact the moon has had on both human history and the planet geographically.
The prevailing theory of modern science is that the moon resulted from a large-scale collision with the still-developing Earth. It caused a significant “piece” to spin off into an orbiting body. It explains the similarity in composition, as confirmed by many of the moon exploratory space missions conducted by NASA.
But this background also highlights another significant influence on the moon. Earth’s development is seldom recognized: the stabilization of Earth’s orbital pattern. Most know that Earth is not round but more of an egg-shaped orb.
Without the moon’s stabilizing influence, this shape would shift dramatically. So the tilt of the axis, the polar caps, would also go dramatically with each seasonal rotation. It would produce climacteric changes much more violent and drastic than we are used to.
It is possible that life could not have developed here had the moon not been there. To “keep the Earth balanced” and stabilize its orbital position. So our climate could remain stable.
Third Significant Influence
A third significant influence of the moon comes from a collision that “ripped” the moon’s body from the Earth’s core. This disruption to the center of our planet scattered intact metals around the geography of the Earth in diverse ways.
Usually, the planet’s metals are all concentrated deep in the core. However, because of the collision, which took the moon out to orbit. These metals, crucial to developing our industrial and technological cultures, were made readily available and accessible for mining.
We have a special feeling toward the other planets that circle our sun. It could be all the science fiction stories about visiting the moon, Mars, and other planets. But we love to think about those planets that make up what we call “the solar system.”
The planets of our solar system have taken on personalities and mythical appeal in our literature and arts. The names of the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These are all from our cultural past, being Greek and Roman mythology gods. But the solar system is not just made up of these planets.
Many objects are floating around the moon and our solar system other than the planets. In addition to the planets, 165 moons orbit around those nine planets. Some of those moons are so advanced that some scientists suspected they might have supported life at some point.
In addition to the regular planets and moons. There are dwarf planets, asteroid belts, and routine visits by comets in our cosmic corner of the universe. The two known dwarf planets on the outer rim of our solar system are Eries and Ceres.
The Heliopause.
In addition to these larger bodies. There is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, where most of the asteroids in our night sky are. There is another belt of large objects further out called the Kuiper belt. And a “bubble” in space called the heliopause.
There is a suspected additional belt outside the known solar system called the Oort belt. We think is the origin of many large asteroids and comets. That frequent our solar system and come to orbit our sun.
As fascinating as these many celestial bodies, who are our neighbors in space, the origin of our solar system. We must break it down into simple terms to understand the solar system’s early history. The universe was one of the great bodies of gas and clouds of matter. Eventually, cooling and heating, exploding and spinning off stars. And other massive space giants that became more stars, galaxies, and solar systems. From this erratic activity, our sun separated from the gasses and carried the material that became our solar system.
Sun’s Gravity
The sun’s gravity captured sufficient matter that it began to form, cool, explode, and separate. This happened as the planets went through the same process. Eventually, establish stable orbits and small objects fall into orbit around them.
When you think of how robust and out of control this process is. It’s incredible to step back and see the beauty of the organization of our solar system today. The more detail you learn about the moon and our solar system, the more you will enjoy explorations with your telescope. That discovery is part of the fun of astronomy.
