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Moon

Specialty Definition: Moon

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Specialty Definition: Full Moon

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

See:

• Full moon, the phase of the moon
• Full Moon (album)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Full Moon."

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Full moon

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Galileo spacecraft took this composite image on December 7, 1992 on its way to explore the Jupiter system in 1995-97. The color is 'enhanced' in the sense that the CCD camera is sensitive to near infrared wavelengths of light beyond human vision. (Larger image)

The full moon is the phase of the moon that occurs when the Moon lies on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun. The moon as seen from the surface of the earth is fully illuminated by the sun at this time, presenting a "full" round disc to viewers on earth. As always, only half the total surface of the moon is illuminated.

A full moon is the only time when a lunar eclipse is possible; at that time the moon may move through the shadow cast by the earth. However, because of the tilt of the moon's orbit around the earth relative to the earth's orbit around the sun, the moon may pass above or below the shadow, so a lunar eclipse does not occur at every full moon. Full moons are generally a poor time to conduct astronomical observations, since the bright reflected sunlight from the moon overwhelms the dimmer light from stars.

An approximate formula for the average time of full moon N is:

D = 20.362954 + 29.5305888531 × N + 102.19 × 10^-12 × N ²

where D is the number of days (and fractions) since 1 January 2000 00:00:00 TT, and N is an integer.

To obtain this day expressed in UTC (world clock time) for future events (N > 0), apply the following approximate correction:

-0.000739 - 235 × 10^-12 × N ²

The true full moon may differ from this by more than 14 hours, due to periodic perturbations. The long-term error of the formula is approximately 1 × cy² seconds in TT, and 11 × cy² seconds in UT (cy is centuries since 2000); see the new moon page for a detailed explanation.

Full moons are traditionally associated with insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and with various unusual phenomena such as lycanthropy.

Neopagans hold a monthly ritual called an Esbat at each full moon.

The traditional Chinese calendar is based on the phases of the moon. The full moon is always the middle of a month. The mid-autumn festival falls on the full moon of the eighth month. The Lantern festival falls on the first full moon of the year. Many religious Chinese people prepare their ritualistic offerings to their ancestors and deities on every full moon and new moon.

Full Moon Names

Month	Names	Other Names Used
January	Wolf Moon	Old Moon
February	Snow Moon	Hunger Moon
March	Worm Moon	Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sugar Moon, Sap Moon
April	Pink Moon	Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon
May	Flower Moon	Corn Planting Moon, Milk Moon
June	Strawberry Moon	Rose Moon, Hot Moon
July	Buck Moon	Thunder Moon, Hay Moon
August	Sturgeon Moon	Red Moon, Green Corn Moon
September	Harvest Moon	Corn Moon, Barley Moon
October	Hunter's Moon	Travel Moon, Dying Grass Moon
November	Beaver Moon	Frost Moon
December	Cold Moon	Long Nights Moon
These are the traditional names given to each month's Full Moon by Native Americans in the northern and eastern United States. The Moon was used to track the seasons. (From Farmer's Almanac)

The Blue Moon

The origin of the term "Blue Moon" is steeped in folklore, and its meaning has changed and acquired new and interesting meanings and nuances over time. The earliest known recorded usage was in 1528, in a pamphlet entitled Rede Me and Be Not Wrothe: "Yf they say the mone is belewe, we must believe that it is true". This implies the expression had a meaning of something that was absurd, and bears close resemblance to another moon-related adage first recorded in the following year "They woulde make men beleue ... that ye Moone is made of grene chese".

In modern terms, the event known as a blue moon is related to the western calendar system. A blue moon is the second of two full moons to occur in the same calendar month. Blue moons occur infrequently (thus the saying once in a blue moon to denote a rare event), because the length of the calendar month in this system is close to the length of the period of the moon's phases (synodic month). They are not impossible, because every month except February is longer that this period by 1 or 2 days. The next blue moons (based on UTC) will be on July 31, 2004; June 30, 2007; and December 31, 2009.

The original meaning of blue moon was the third full moon in a season when there were four full moons in that season: this had to do with church holy days related to the last or first full moon of a season (like Easter). This usage had been almost entirely forgotten, and the original meaning was uncovered only when researchers for Sky & Telescope magazine noticed that the Maine Farmer's Alamanac from 1829 to 1937 reported blue moons that did not fit the first meaning of the term above. (See What's a Blue Moon?)

Visibly blue moons are rare events. They can be caused by smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere, such as happened after forest fires in Sweden in 1950 and Canada in 1951 and, notably, after the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, which caused blue moons for nearly two years.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Full moon."

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Keith Moon

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Keith Moon (August 23, 1946 - September 7, 1978) was the drummer of the rock group The Who. He was born in London in 1946, although he would later claim to have been born a year later.

He is considered one of the most unusual and yet original drummers of all rock and roll history.

Early in the Who's career, the band acquired a reputation for destroying their equipment at the end of each show. Moon showed a particular zeal for this activity, wildly kicking and smashing his drums, and on one occasion loading a drum with fireworks which he detonated at the finale of My Generation. His antics earned him the nickname "Moon the Loon".

Moon quickly gained a reputation as being highly destructive. He was known to lay waste to hotel rooms, the homes of friends, and even his own domicile, often throwing furniture out of high windows and destroying the plumbing with firecrackers. While he never actually drove a car into a swimming pool, it's not hard to imagine how such a story originated.

Moon had a style all his own and laid down some of the tightest drum tracks in rock and roll. Contemporary drummers such as Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham could all point to him as a major influence, and Moon's anarchic, out-of-control style remains an influence on popular music today.

Although his work with the Who dominated Moon's career, he participated in a few minor side projects. In 1966, he teamed up with Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck and future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones to record an instrumental, Beck's Bolero, released as a single later that year. Moon is also said to have named Led Zeppelin, remarking that the supergroup would "go over like a lead balloon". In 1974 he released his first and only solo album, a collection of pop covers entitled Two Sides of the Moon. In 1976 he covered the Beatles tune When I'm Sixty-Four for the soundtrack of the documentary All This And World War II.

Moon died in his sleep at the age of 32, having overdosed on anti-seizure medication. He was replaced by Faces drummer Kenney Jones, and in recent tours by Zak Starkey.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Keith Moon."

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Moon

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This page refers to Earth's moon. For other moons in the solar system, please see natural satellite. See also: the Luna program of unmanned space missions. For other things named Moon see Moon (disambiguation).

Luna

Orbital characteristics
Mean radius	384,400 km
Eccentricity	0.0549
Revolution period	27d 7h 43.7m
Inclination	5.1454°
Is a satellite of	Earth
Physical characteristics
Equatorial diameter	3,474.8 km
Surface area	38 million km2
Mass	7.349 × 1022 kg
Mean density	3.34 g/cm3
Surface gravity	1.62 m/s2
Rotation period	27d 7h 43.7m
Axial tilt	1.5424°
Albedo	0.12
Surface temp	min mean max K 250 K K
Atmospheric characteristics
Atmospheric pressure	3 × 10-13kPa
Helium	25%
Neon	25%
Hydrogen	23%
Argon	20%
Methane Ammonia Carbon dioxide	trace
Crust composition
Oxygen	43%
Silicon	21%
Aluminium	10%
Calcium	9%
Iron	9%
Magnesium	5%
Titanium	2%
Nickel	0.6%
Sodium	0.3%
Chromium	0.2%
Potassium	0.1%
Manganese	0.1%
Sulfur	0.1%
Phosphorus	500ppm
Carbon	100ppm
Nitrogen	100ppm
Hydrogen	50ppm
Helium	20ppm

The Moon is the largest satellite of the Earth. It has no formal name other than "The Moon" although it is occasionally called Luna (Latin for moon) to distinguish it from the generic "moon." The words moon and month come from the same Old English root word.

The color image of the Moon to the right was taken by the Galileo spacecraft at 9:35 a.m. PST December 9, 1990, at a range of about 350,000 miles.

The side of Luna that faces away from the Earth is properly called "the far side." It is sometimes referred to as the "dark side" of the Moon. In this case "dark" means unknown and hidden; it also refers to the "communications black out" which occurs as a spacecraft travels on the far side; this black out is a result of the moon's mass blocking radio signals. This term, "dark side", is often erroneously interperted as referring to a lack of solar radiation. The Sun can be seen from the far side. Most of the far side cannot be seen from the Earth, because the planet and its moon have a synchronic relationship; a small portion of the far side can be seen, from Earth, due to libration.

The near side of Luna is covered with ~30,000 craters having a diameter of at least 1 kilometer. The largest crater on Luna, and indeed the largest known crater within the solar system, forms the South Pole-Aitken basin. This crater is located on the far side, near the south pole, and is some 2,240km in diameter, and 13km in depth.

The Moon and the Celestial Sphere

The Moon makes a complete orbit of the celestial sphere about every four weeks. Each hour the moon moves in the sky a distance close to its perceived angular size, or by about 0.5º. The Moon always remains within a path, called the Zodiac, which extends about 8º on either side of the ecliptic. Luna crosses the ecliptic about once every 2 weeks.

Brief History of Lunar Understanding

During the ancient period, it was not uncommon for cultures to believe that Luna died each night, thus descending into the underworld; other cultures believed that the moon chased Sol (and vice-versa). By the medieval period, some believed that Luna was a "perfectly smooth" sphere; and some believed that there were oceans there (see: maria). As late as the 1920s (or so), it was believed that Luna might have a breatheable atmosphere (or so science fiction of the period seems to indicate). In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the moon.

Physical characteristics

Since the Moon's rotational period is exactly the same as its orbital period, we always see the same face of the Moon pointed towards the Earth. This synchronicity is a result of friction having slowed down the Moon's rotation in its early history, a process known as tidal locking. As a result of tidal locking, the Earth's rotation is also gradually being slowed down by the Moon, and the Moon is slowly receding from the Earth as the Earth's rotational momentum is transferred to the Moon's orbital momentum. The gravitional attraction that the Moon exerts on the Earth is the cause of tides in the sea. Tidal flow is synchronised to the Moon's orbit around the Earth.

The Earth and Moon orbit about a common center of mass, which lies about 4700 km from the Earth's center. Since the common center of mass of the Earth-Moon system (the barycenter) is located within Earth, Earth's motion is more commonly described as a "wobble." When viewed from Earth's North pole, the Earth and Moon rotate counter clockwise about their axes, Moon orbits Earth counter-clockwise and Earth orbits the Sun counter-clockwise.

The Moon's orbital plane about the Earth is inclined by 5 degrees with respect to the Earth's orbital plane about the Sun (the ecliptic plane). The Moon's orbital plane along with its spin axis rotates clockwise with a period of 18.6 years, always maintaining the 5 degree inclination. The points where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic are called the lunar "nodes": the North (or ascending) node is where the Moon crosses to the North of the ecliptic; the South (or descending ) node where it crosses to the South. Solar eclipses occur when a node coincides with the new Moon; lunar eclipses when a node coincides with the full Moon.

The inclination of the Moon's orbit makes it rather unlikely that the Moon formed along with the Earth or was captured later; its origin is the subject of strong scientific debate. The most accepted theory states that the Moon originated from the collision between the young Earth and an impactor the size of Mars (sometimes called Theia) and was formed from material ejected from Earth as a result of the collision. This is called the Giant Impact theory. New simulations published in August 2001 support this theory . This theory is also corroborated by the fact that the Moon has all the same minerals as the Earth, albeit in different proportions.

The geological epochs of the Moon are defined based on the dating of various significant impact events in the Moon's history.

Tidal forces deformed the once molten Moon into an ellipsoid, with the major axis pointed towards the Earth.

Composition

More than 4.5 billion years ago, the surface of the Moon was a liquid magma ocean. Scientists think that one component of lunar rocks, KREEP (K-potassium, Rare Earth Elements, and P-phosphorus), represents the last chemical remnant of that magma ocean. KREEP is actually a composite of what scientists term "incompatible elements": those which cannot fit into a crystal structure and thus were left behind, floating to the surface of the magma. For researchers, KREEP is a convenient tracer, useful for reporting the story of the volcanic history of the lunar crust and chronicling the frequency of impacts by comets and other celestial bodies.

The lunar crust is composed of a variety of primary elements, including uranium, thorium, potassium, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, titanium, calcium, aluminum and hydrogen. When bombarded by cosmic rays, each element bounces back into space its own radiation, in the form of gamma rays. Some elements, such as uranium, thorium and potassium, are radioactive and emit gamma rays on their own. However, regardless of what causes them, gamma rays for each element are all different from one another -- each produces a unique spectral "signature," detectable by a spectrometer. A complete global mapping of the Moon for the abundance of these elements has never been performed.

Presence of water

Moon craters (magnify)

Over time, comets and meteorites continually bombard the Moon. Many of these objects are water-rich. Energy from sunlight splits much of this water into its constituent elements hydrogen and oxygen, both of which usually fly off into space immediately. However, it has been hypothesized that significant traces of water remain on the moon, either on the surface, or embedded within the crust. The results of the Clementine mission suggested that small, frozen pockets of water ice (remnants of water-rich comet impacts) may be embedded unmelted in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar crust. Although the pockets are thought to be small, the overall amount of water was suggested to be quite significant - one billion cubic meters, or an amount the size of Lake Erie.

Some water molecules, however, may have literally hopped along the surface and gotten trapped inside craters at the lunar poles. Due to the very slight "tilt" of the Moon's axis, only 1.5°, some of these deep craters never receive any light from the Sun - they are permanently shadowed. It is in such craters that scientists expect to find frozen water if it is there at all. If found, water ice could be mined and then split into hydrogen and oxygen by solar panel-equipped electric power stations or a nuclear generator. The presence of usable quantities of water on the Moon would be an important factor in rendering lunar habitation cost-effective, since transporting water (or hydrogen and oxygen) from Earth would be prohibitively expensive.

The equatorial Moon rock collected by Apollo astronauts contained no traces of water. Neither the Lunar Prospector nor more recent surveys, such as those of the Smithsonian Institution, have found any evidence of lunar water, ice, or water vapour.

Magnetic field

Compared to that of the Earth, the Moon has a very small magnetic field. While some of the Moon's magnetism is thought to be intrinsic (such as a strip of the lunar crust called the Rima Sirsalis), collision with other celestial bodies might have imparted some of the Moon's magnetic properties. Indeed, a long-standing question in planetary science is whether an airless solar system body, such as the Moon, can obtain magnetism from impact processes such as comets and asteroids. Magnetic measurements can also supply information about the size and electrical conductivity of the lunar core -- evidence that will help scientists better understand the Moon's origins. For instance, if the core contains more magnetic elements (such as iron) than the Earth, then the impact theory loses some credibility (although there are alternate explanations for why the lunar core might contain less iron).

Blanketed atop the Moon's crust is a dusty outer rock layer called regolith. Both the crust and regolith are unevenly distributed over the entire Moon. The crust ranges from 38 miles (60 km) on the near side to 63 miles (100 km) on the far side. The regolith varies from 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) in the maria to 33 to 66 feet (10 to 20 meters) in the highlands. Scientists think that such asymmetry of the lunar crust most likely accounts for the Moon's off-set center of mass. Crustal asymmetry may also explain differences in lunar terrain, such as the dominance of smooth rock (maria) on the near side of the Moon.

Atmosphere

The Moon has a relatively insignificant and tenuous atmosphere. One source of this atmosphere is outgassing - the release of gases, for instance radon, which originate deep within the Moon's interior. Another important source of gases is the solar wind, which is briefly captured by the Moon's gravity.

Observation of the Moon

By what can only be a truly extraordinary coincidence, the apparent size of the Moon as seen from the Earth is almost exactly the same as the apparent size of the Sun, so that total solar eclipses are possible where the Moon almost completely covers the Sun and the solar corona becomes visible to the naked eye.

Moon surface (magnify)

The Moon (and also the Sun) appear larger when close to the horizon. This is a purely psychological effect (atmospheric refraction and its larger distance actually causes the image of the Moon near the horizon to be slightly smaller); it is assumed that size judgments for overhead objects were not important during evolution of the cognitive apparatus and are therefore inaccurate. [1]

Various lighter and darker colored areas create the patterns seen by different cultures as the Man in the Moon, the rabbit and the buffalo, amongst others. Craters and mountain chains are also prominent lunar features. The dark and relatively featureless lunar plains are called maria, latin for seas, since they were believed by ancient astronomers to be water-filled seas. The lighter-colored highlands are called terrae.

During the brightest full moons, the Moon can have an apparent magnitude of about -12.6. For comparison, the Sun has an apparent magnitude of -26.8.

See also: Lunar phase.

The exploration of the Moon

Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to boulder at Taurus-Littrow during third EVA. (magnify)

The far side of the Moon was first seen on September 15, 1959 when the unmanned Soviet probe Luna 2 was launched into an orbit over it.

Humans first landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969 as the culmination of a Cold War-inspired space race between Russia and America. The first astronaut on the Moon was Neil Armstrong, captain of Apollo 11. The last man to stand on the Moon was Eugene Cernan, who as part of Apollo 17 walked on the Moon in December 1972. A full list of lunar astronauts

The Apollo 11 crew left a 9 by 7 inch stainless steel plaque on the moon, to commemorate the landing and provide basic information of the visit to any other beings who may eventually see it. The plaque reads:

Here men from the Planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969, A.D.

We came in peace for all mankind.'

The plaque depicts the two sides of planet Earth, and is signed by the three astronauts, as well as US President Richard Nixon.

The European Space Agency and People's Republic of China both have plans to launch probes to explore the Moon in the near future. European spacecraft Smart 1 was launched September 27, 2003 and is expected to reach lunar orbit in early 2005. It will survey the lunar environment and create an X-ray map of the Moon. [1] The PRC has expressed ambitious plans for exploring the Moon and is investigating the prospect of lunar mining, specifically looking for the isotope Helium-3 for use as an energy source on Earth. [1]

In 2001 Philippe Lheureux published his claim that photographs taken by NASA astronauts on the Moon were actually faked on Earth.

The Moon in myth and folk culture

The Moon has figured prominently in various mythologies and folk beliefs. The numerous lunar deities are often female such as the Greek goddesses Selene and Artemis, their Roman equivalents Luna and Diana or the Thracian Bendis. However males are also found, such as Nanna or Sin of the Mesopotamians, Thoth of the Egyptians and the Japanese god Susanowo, along with Isil in J. R. R. Tolkien's invented Middle-earth mythology.

The words lunacy, lunatic and loony are derived from Luna because of the folk belief in the Moon as a cause of periodic insanity. Folklore also stated that lycanthropes such as werewolves and weretigers, mythical creatures capable of changing form between human and beast, drew their power from the Moon and would change into their bestial form during the full Moon.

Related articles

• Transient lunar phenomenon
• Detailed image of almost full Moon
• List of Lunar craters
• List of Lunar mountains
• List of Lunar valleys
• Lunar mare

External links

Scientific

• The Moon - by Rosanna and Calvin Hamilton
• The Moon - by Bill Arnett
• images of Earth's moon

Myth and folklore

• Do things get crazy when the moon is full? by Cecil Adams
• Once in a Blue Moon - What is a blue moon? by Ann-Marie Imbornoni
• The Moon In Folklore - by Virginia Marin

others

• Moon shots 'faked' - BBC report
• Moonhoax website

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Moon."

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Moon (disambiguation)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The term Moon refers, among other things, to:

1. The Earth's only natural satellite, the Moon.
2. Some important people:
   • Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church.
   • Dr. William Moon, the inventor of Moon type (see below).
3. Moon type, a writing system for the blind.
4. Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Moon (disambiguation)."

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Natural satellite

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The term moon (never capitalized) is used to mean any natural satellite of the other planets. There are, at least, 102 moons within Earth's solar system, and presumably many others orbiting the planets of other stars. Typically the larger gas giants have extensive systems of moons. Mercury and Venus have no moons at all, Earth has one large moon, Mars has two tiny moons, and Pluto a large companion called Charon (sometimes considered to be a double planet).

Most moons are assumed to have been formed out of the same collapsing region of protoplanetary disk that gave rise to its primary. However, there are many exceptions and variations to this standard model of moon formation that are known or theorized. Several moons are thought to be captured foreign objects, fragments of larger moons shattered by large impacts, or (in the case of Earth's moon) a portion of the planet itself blasted into orbit by a large impact. As most moons are known only through a few distant observations through probes or telescopes, most theories about them are still uncertain.

Most moons in the solar system are tidally locked to their primaries; an exception is Saturn's moon Hyperion, which rotates chaotically due to a variety of external influences. No moons have moons of their own; the tidal effects of their primaries make orbits around them unstable. However, several moons have companions in their Lagrangian points (eg, Saturn's moons Tethys and Dione).

The recent discovery of Ida's moon Dactyl confirms that some asteroids also have moons.

The largest moons in the solar system (those bigger than about 3000 km across) are Earth's Moon, Jupiter's Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, Saturn's moon Titan, and Neptune's captured moon Triton. For smaller moons see the appropriate planets.

A comparative table classifying the moons of the solar system by diameter, also including a column for some notable asteroids:

Diameter(km)	Earth	Mars	Asteroids	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto
5000+				Ganymede	Titan
4000-5000				Callisto
3000-4000	Luna			Europa Io
2000-3000							Triton
1000-2000			1 Ceres		Iapetus Rhea Dione Tethys	Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon		Charon
500-1000			4 Vesta 2 Pallas
100-500			(Too many to list)	Amalthea	Phoebe Hyperion Enceladus Mimas Janus Epimetheus	Sycorax Miranda Puck Portia	Proteus Nereid Larissa Galatea Despina
50-100			(Too many to list)	Himalia Thebe	Pandora Prometheus	Setebos Prospero Stephano Caliban 1986U10 Belinda Rosalind Juliet Desdemona Cressida Bianca Cordelia Ophelia	Thalassa Naiad
10-50		Phobos Deimos	(Too many to list)	Sinope Pasiphae Carme Ananke Elara Lysithea Leda Adrastea Metis	Helene Calypso Telesto Atlas Pan	Trinculo
less than 10	Cruithne¹			S/2000 J11 S/2000 J1 Iocaste Praxidike Harpalyke Isonoe Erinome Taygete Chaldene S/2002 J1 Kalyke Megaclite Callirrhoe Euporie Kale Orthosie Thyone Euanthe Hermippe Pasithee Eurydome Aitne Sponde Autonoe S/2001 J11 S/2003 J2 S/2003 J3 S/2003 J4 S/2003 J5 S/2003 J6 S/2003 J7 S/2003 J8 S/2003 J9 S/2003 J10 S/2003 J11 S/2003 J12 S/2003 J13 S/2003 J14 S/2003 J15 S/2003 J16 S/2003 J17 S/2003 J18 S/2003 J19 S/2003 J20 S/2003 J21
unknown				Themisto	Ymir Paaliaq Siarnaq Tarvos Kiviuq Ijiraq Thrym Skadi Mundilfari Erriapo Albiorix Suttung S/2003 S1	S/2002 N1 S/2002 N2 S/2002 N3

¹ It is debatable whether Cruithne counts as a real moon; it is mainly placed here for comparison's sake.

External links

Jupiter's moons

• Data on Jupiter's satellites
• Jupiter's new moons (discovered in 2000)
• Jupiter's new moons (discovered in 2002)
• Jupiter's new moons (discovered in 2003)

Saturn's moons

• Saturn's new moons (discovered in 2000)
• Saturn's new moon (discovered in 2003)

Neptune's moons

• Neptune's new moons (discovered in 2003)

Solar system:
Sun - Mercury - Venus - Earth - Mars - Asteroids - Jupiter - Saturn - Uranus - Neptune - Pluto - Comets

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Natural satellite."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Moon

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Synonyms within Context: Moon

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Modern Usage: Moon

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Commercial Usage: Moon

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Image Slideshow: Moon

Photos: Moon More pictures...

Illustrations: Moon More pictures...

Computer Images: Moon More pictures...

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Photo Album: Moon

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Seen is the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center at night with the moon. Shot taken from the northwest side of the building. Credit: Bill Branson (photographer).		"Orrery" (movie) by Marijke van Gans. Watch Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars orbit the Sun, while the Moon orbits Earth. From inside DPGraph, click on Edit for more information.
	Lunar Prospector in orbit around moon. Credit: NASA.		Galileo Images the Moon. Credit: NASA.
	Replica of Plaque Left on Moon by Apollo 17 Astronauts. Credit: NASA.		The giant gaseous planet Jupiter and its moon Io are featured in this Hubble telescope ... Credit: NASA.
	This is the clearest view yet of the distant planet Pluto and its moon Charon, as revealed by ... Credit: NASA.		False color infrared composite of Jupiter's moon Io. Credit: NASA.
	View of Africa and Saudi Arabia from Apollo 17.Probably the most requested picture of the Earth, this picture was taken by the Apollo17 astronauts as they left earth orbit en route to the Moon. Taken on Dec. 7, 1972,it was the first time that the trajectory of an Apollo mission enabled a view ofthe south pole. Credit: NASA.		Earth Rise Over Moon. Credit: NASA.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Moon
 

"Moon Shine" by Dennis Jozefowicz Commentary: "Moon shines through clouds onto the Atlanit ocean."	"Moon in Trees" by Bob Delgado Commentary: "Silhouetted tree leaves against the sky at sunset. Moon in the background."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Sounds Captioned with "Moon".

Play	Caption
	Dark; night; woods; wolf; full moon; witching hour.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Moon

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Use in Literature: Moon

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Non-Fiction Usage: Moon

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Speeches: Moon

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Usage Frequency: Moon

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Name Usage Frequency: Moon

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Derived & Related Names: Moon

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Usage in Company Names: Moon

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

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Cities: Moon