Water on the moon

[rh100]

Just meant it needs to be fairly simple for me to understand

 

[TheDoctor]

For that matter, we'll eventually be tidally locked with the moon. Our 'day' will last just over 4 weeks!!

edit: On checking, it seems that the sun will turn into a red giant before this can happen. That's in about 4.5 billion years, if anyone wants to make a note in their diary,,,

 

[Arch]

The amazing thing though, is that it rotates at exactly the right amount to always face us, so we always see the same face of it from here.

More amazing, as pure coincidence, is the fact that the moon is just the right size to cover the sun exactly in an eclipse, due to us being just the right distance from the sun...

 

[Davidc]

More amazing, as pure coincidence, is the fact that the moon is just the right size to cover the sun exactly in an eclipse, due to us being just the right distance from the sun...

It's just the era/epoch we're living in. A coincidence.

The moon is slowly moving away from the earth, and the sun is slowly getting larger. Our ancestors would have seen a larger moon, and eclipses would have lasted longer.

 

[661-Pete]

With respect, Pete, that's cobblers. The reason they didn't land on the poles was the risk of drowning.

But amazingly, if it had been Europa your intrepid astronauts had homed in on, your story might just have rung true!

Excuse my ignorance but does the dark side of the moon ever get the sun on it?

The others have answered this far better than I could.

More amazing, as pure coincidence, is the fact that the moon is just the right size to cover the sun exactly in an eclipse, due to us being just the right distance from the sun...

Believe me, I've often wondered about this. Of course, it doesn't always cover the sun's disk: about half of all central eclipses are annular, where the moon is just a bit too small and a bright ring of the Sun's disk is still visible. But it's very close.

None of the other moons in the Solar System meets these criteria. Mars's moons are both too small, and the major moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all much larger than they 'need' to be.

 

[rh100]

It's just the era/epoch we're living in. A coincidence.

The moon is slowly moving away from the earth, and the sun is slowly getting larger. Our ancestors would have seen a larger moon, and eclipses would have lasted longer.

Watched a documentary about the Apollo astronauts leaving a reflector on the surface, which is still used to measure the distance by laser from the USA, I beleive this is the only part of Apollo still running? The increase in distance has been measurable over that time.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/ApolloLaser.html