Of all the celestial bodies that catch our attention and fascination as astronomers, nothing has a greater influence on life on planet Earth than it’s own satellite, the moon. When you think about it, we look upon the moon with such vigorous importance that unlike the moons of other planets which we give names, we simply refer to our one and only orbiting sphere as THE Moon. It isn’t a moon. To us, it’s the one and only moon. For many people, our very earliest experience of learning about the celestial bodies began once we saw our first full moon in the sky. It is really an impressive sight even to the naked eye. If the night is clear, you’ll be able to observe amazing detail on the lunar surface even from your own back yard.

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The moon works its way into our thoughts, and our emotions regarding romance, poetry as well as literature and even how we feel about the day. It is not only primitive societies that ascribe mood swings, changes in social conduct and changes in weather to the moon. Even today, a full moon can have a mighty effect on these forces which we acknowledge even if we cannot justify them scientifically. Naturally, as you strengthen in your love of astronomy, you will find countless celestial bodies fascinating. But the moon may continuously be our first love since it is the one far away space object that has the unique distinction of flying close to the earth, and upon which man has walked.

The most obvious physical phenomenon that is directly affected by the gravity of the moon are the tides of the ocean. The tides are an vital part of how marine life is regulated and the comings and goings of the fishing world in coastal communities. But not very many people know that at certain times of the year when the orbits of the earth bring the sun and moon into the right alignment, there can even be tidal effect on inland bodies of water and even on the solid earth. Eons ago, when the moon’s orbit was closer to the Earth, it was the effect of the moon that caused massive changes in the topography of the land and on continental drift as well. This reflects the influential effect the moon has had on bothhuman history and on global geographical history as well. Your study of the moon, like anything else, can go from the simple to the very complex. To look at the moon withthe naked eye, making yourself familiar with the lunar map will help you pick out the seas, craters and other geographic phenomenon that others have already mapped to make your study more gratifying. Moon maps can be bought from any astronomy shop or onlineand they are well worththe investment. To kick it up a notch, a good pair of binoculars can do wonders for the detail you will see on the lunar surface. For best results, get a good wide field in the binocular settings so you can take in the lunar landscape in all its beauty. And because it is almost impossible to hold the binoculars still for the lengthof time you will want to gaze at this magnificent body in space, you may want to add to your equipment arsenal a good tripod that you can affix the binoculars to so you can study the moon in comfort and witha stable viewing platform. Of course, to take your moon worship to the ultimate, stepping your equipment up to a good starter telescope will give you the most stunning detail of the lunar surface. Witheach of these upgrades your knowledge and the depth and scope of what you will be able to see will improve geometrically. For many amateur astronomers, we sometimes cannot get enough of what we can see on this our closest space object.

You may sometimes ask the question, where the moon came from. Was it a planet that traveled too close to Earthand was captured in our orbit? Actually, the prevailing theory of modern science is that the moon was the result of a large scale collision with the still developing Earth early in its development which caused this large “chuck” to spin off into an orbiting body. This explains the similarity in composition as has been confirmed by many of the moon exploratory space missions that were conducted by NASA. The best time to view the moon, obviously, is at night when there are few clouds and the weather is accommodating for a long and lasting study. The first quarter yields the greatest detail of study. The phenomenon known as “earthshine” gives you a chance to see the darkened part of the moon with some detail as well, even if the moon is only at quarter or half displayed.
But this background also highlights another Significant effect the moon has had on Earth’s development that is seldom recognized and that is the stabilization of Earth’s orbital pattern. Most know that Earth is not round but more of an egg shaped orb. To be blunt, the Earth would wobble. Without the moon’s stabilizing influence, this form would shift dramatically so the tilt of the axis, that is the polar caps would shift dramatically with each seasonal rotation producing climacteric, changes much more violent and drastic than we are used to. It is possible that life as we know it could not have developed here had the moon not been there to “keep the Earth in line” and continue to stabilize the orbital position of the Earth so our climate could remain stable and mild.
Could this mean that the missile flown into the Moon’s surface on the 9 th of October 2009, could have an effect which we didn’t take into account? Could it affect the Tides? Could this explosion affect our emotional balance? Could it affect the fishes movement such as the stranding of whales?
A third significant influence of the moon comes from that origin as coming from a collision which “ripped” the body of the moon from the developing core of the Earth. Because of this disruption in how the core of our planet developed, the metals that are usually intact in the core of the planet are actually scattered up and down the geography of the earth in diverse ways. Usually the metals of the planet are all concentrated deep in the core. But because of the collision which took the moon out to orbit, metals that have been crucial to the development of our industrial and technological cultures are readily available and easy for use to mine. This again, is something we can thank the presence of that lovely moon in the sky for.

Article written by Karima Lachtane
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