I don't know when it was created, but supposedly it was a long time ago, like billions of years ago. You'd think by now, with it being only 250,000 miles away, that the earth's gravity would have pulled it in. What's keeping it back? Is it not a moon, like the Death Star? "that's no moon"? Supposedly the sun keeps pulling it away too, in the opposite direction, but I don't really get it.
Just over a week ago, while camping near Sorrento, I watched the sun set. Shortly after, the moon rose. No big deal. However, after a few minutes the moon shifted over to the right slightly and began to turn a bright red colour- it then proceeded to sink, until it dissapeared back down behind the horizon. I have never seen this before and am wondering what I saw.
I was reading today that the Indians have lost contact with their lunar orbiter. The moon has a negligible atmosphere so there should be no drag. The only non-gravitational force I can think of is the solar wind. This force is very small and complicated to calculate so the answer to how long the Indian satellite will orbit the moon has eluded me. Has anyone got an idea?
Assuming that you had a sufficient quantity of solid matter in a planetary ring, could it ever aggregate along its mean orbital path to form a solid orbiting torus of ice/rock?
Why can't one of our space telescopes, capable of seeing galaxies many light years away, be pointed at the site of the moon landings where one can assume there are some remnants from the visits.
Would this definitely prove to any sceptics that humans landed on the moon? It would be a nice way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first landing.