Name _______________________________________________ Date ___________________________ Block _______
The Moon Reading Guide
Ch 25 – pg 556
1. What was the name of the United States missions to the moon? ___________________________________
2. Describe the theory about the moon’s origin that has become widely accepted by most scientists:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the name of the theory? (Look at the diagram) __________________________________________
4. Meteoroids that impacted the moon left behind bowl shaped depressions called ______________________
5. Why does the same side of the moon always face the Earth? ______________________________________
6. What is the moon’s - Diameter ________________ - Mass ________________ - Density - ______________
7. The dark areas of the moon are called MARIA. Why did early observers name them after the latin word for
‘sea’?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8. What are Maria really? ____________________________________________________________________
9. What is the name for the lunar soil? __________________________________________________________
10. How is it unlike Earth soil? _________________________________________________________________
11. How long does it take the moon to complete one orbit around the Earth? __________________________
12. Where do you think the word “month” originated from? ________________________________________
13. When is it possible to see the moon during the day? ____________________________________________
14. The moon doesn’t rise at the same time each day because as the Earth rotates once, the moon moves along in its orbit.
How many minutes later does the moon rise each day? ____________
15. So if you saw the moon rise at 8:00pm tonight, what time would you expect to see the moon rise tomorrow night?
____________________________
PLEASE READ ABOUT these other important facts…
 The moon is Earth’s NATURAL SATELITTE
 It REFLECTS the Sun’s light (the moon doesn’t emit its own)
 At any given time, ½ of the moon is ALWAYS LIT while the other ½ is DARK. The half that is lighted is facing the sun.
 The Apollo missions from 1963-1972 where designed to land a man on the moon. APOLLO 11 was the
1st to achieve the goal.