moon tagged posts

The gravitational effects associated with the presence of the Moon and Sun cause cyclical deformation of the Earth’s mantle and wobbles in its rotation axis. This mechanical forcing applied to the whole planet causes strong currents in the outer core, which is made up of a liquid iron alloy of very low viscosity. Such currents are enough to generate the Earth’s magnetic field. Credit: © Julien Monteux and Denis Andrault

The Earth’s magnetic field permanently protects us from the charged particles and radiation that originate in the Sun. This shield is produced by the geodynamo, the rapid motion of huge quantities of liquid iron alloy in the Earth’s outer core...

Satellite data over the tropics, between 10 degrees S and 10 degrees N, shows a slight dip in rainfall when the moon is directly overhead or underfoot. The top panel shows the air pressure, the middle shows the rate of change in air pressure, and the bottom shows the rainfall difference from the average. The change is 0.78 micrometers, or less than one ten thousandth of an inch, per hour. Credit: Tsubasa Kohyama/University of Washington Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-01-phase-moon-affects-amount-rainfall.html#jCp

When the moon is high in the sky, it creates bulges in the planet’s atmosphere that creates imperceptible changes in the amount of rain that falls below...

Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

“The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 years ago, which also showed Africa prominently in the picture.” In this composite image we see Earth appear to rise over the lunar horizon from the viewpoint of the spacecraft, with the center of the Earth just off the coast of Liberia (at 4.04 degrees North, 12.44 degrees West). The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara Desert, and just beyond is Saudi Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left...

Charles Lue holds a lunar globe showing the reflection of solar wind from magnetic fields of the lunar crust. The strongest reflection takes place in the areas marked in red on the lunar globe. Montage: photo Hans Huybrighs. Credit: Charles Lue

The solar wind is reflected from the surface and crustal magnetic fields of the moon which has effects on for instance lunar water levels. The Swedish space instrument SARA has measured a strong and varied interaction between the Moon and solar wind (continuous flow of plasma from the Sun which affects the planets and contributes to aurora on Earth). The lunar atmosphere, on the other hand, is too thin to show the same phenomenon and the Moon also lacks a global magnetic field to regulate the solar wind...