Lunar Landscape • Surface of the moon from a telescope light and dark colored

areas with bowl shaped pit are visible on Moon’s surface .

1)Craters• It has impacts from space objects have formed craters or

bowl –shaped depression

• Even though the moon and Earth are hit by space objects at about the same rate ,the Moon has more craters .• Earth’s protective atmosphere causes most of the incoming objects burn up .

2)Maria • They are large ,dark flat surface areas on the moon.•Maria means sea in Latin . • The smoothness of the maria led people long ago to think that they might be seas of water .

How Maria are formed ?

•Maria formed when huge space objects collide with the moon’s surface.• These large areas of impact then filled with lava ,when lava cools it gives the maria their smooth appearance and dark color

3)Mountains •They are formed around the edges of large maria .•The mountains probably formed from same impact that formed from the same impact that caused the maria .

4)Highlands • They are found near the lunar poles.• They are higher elevations compared to maria .• The surfaces of highlands have more craters than maria do, so scientists believe that the high lands are geologically older landscape.

5)Valley

They are cigar shaped depressions.Perhaps the most famous is “Alpine Valley”.New evidence suggests that the floors of some deep moon valleys may contain small amounts of ice .

Moon phases

What causes phases of the moon?

• The change in the relative position of Earth ,Moon and Sun .

It’s Just a Phase• Moonlight is reflected sunlight• Half the moon’s surface is

always reflecting light• From Earth we see different

amounts of the Moon’s lit surface• The amount seen is called a

“phase”

Waxing and Waning

• New moon• Waxing Crescent moon• First Quarter moon• Waxing Gibbous moon• Full moon• Waning Gibbous moon• Third Quarter moon• Waning Crescent moon• New moon

earth

moon orbit`searth

last (third)quarter

gibbous moon

full moon

gibbous moon

first quarter

crescent

new moon

crescent

waning Moon

waxing Moon

SUN

FULL

QUARTER

CRESCENT

GIBBOUS

FOUR MAIN SHAPES

Eclipses• An eclipse happen when one body in space blocks light

from reaching another body in space .• There are two types of eclipses :

1) Solar eclipse 2) Lunar eclipse

They occur when

Earth ,Moon and the Sun

line up

It occurs when the moon is

always a new moon

It occurs when the moon is always a full moon

Solar Eclipse • It occurs when the moon makes a shadow on Earth,

and this happens during the “new moon”.• In some places the moon seems to cover the sun, and

the sky gets dark .• In other places ,only part of the sun is covered.

Lunar Eclipse

• It occurs when the moon passes through the shadow of the Earth this happens during “full moon”.• Earth blocks the sun’s light from reaching the moon, but

the moon doesn’t look black, instead it looks red.• This is because Earth’s atmosphere bends (refracts) red

light, which then reflects off the moon.

Refraction of light

Tides • The regular rise and fall of water level along a shore is called a “Tide”• The pull of gravity between Earth and the moon causes tides .

• The greater the object mass the greater its gravitational pull • Gravity exists between the Sun and the planets and also between a planet and its moons .

• The pull of gravity changes with distance .• In case of Earth and moon ,the pull is stronger on the side of the earth that is facing the moon .

• This causes the Earth’s water to bulge on the moon facing side of Earth .• The water level rises where the bulge is and falls where it is not .• This causes the regular rise and fall of the tides.

• Sometimes ,the way the Sun,Moon and Earth line up causes tides to be especially strong or weak .• These tides happens twice a month .• They depend on the gravitational pull of the moon and the Sun .

• When the Sun ,Earth and the moon are in a line ,a spring tide occurs.

• During spring tides ,high tides are higher than usual and low tides are lower than usual .

• If the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon are at right angles ,a neap tide occur.

• During neap tides ,high tides are lower than usual and low tides are higher than usual .