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Moon Fact Sheet

The document provides a fact sheet comparing key parameters of the Moon and Earth, including their masses, radii, densities, surface gravities, escape velocities, and orbital properties. It also details the Moon's tenuous atmosphere, which has a surface pressure of 3 x 10-15 bar and is composed mainly of helium, neon, hydrogen and argon. Temperatures on the lunar surface range from 95K to 390K. The fact sheet serves as a reference for basic physical properties of Earth's natural satellite.

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223 views3 pages

Moon Fact Sheet

The document provides a fact sheet comparing key parameters of the Moon and Earth, including their masses, radii, densities, surface gravities, escape velocities, and orbital properties. It also details the Moon's tenuous atmosphere, which has a surface pressure of 3 x 10-15 bar and is composed mainly of helium, neon, hydrogen and argon. Temperatures on the lunar surface range from 95K to 390K. The fact sheet serves as a reference for basic physical properties of Earth's natural satellite.

Uploaded by

B Rocker
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Moon Fact Sheet

Moon/Earth Comparison

Bulk parameters

Ratio
Moon Earth (Moon/Earth)
Mass (1024 kg) 0.07346 5.9724 0.0123
Volume (1010 km3) 2.1968 108.321 0.0203
Equatorial radius (km) 1738.1 6378.1 0.2725
Polar radius (km) 1736.0 6356.8 0.2731
Volumetric mean radius (km) 1737.4 6371.0 0.2727
Ellipticity (Flattening) 0.0012 0.00335 0.36
Mean density (kg/m3) 3344 5514 0.606
Surface gravity (m/s2) 1.62 9.80 0.165
Surface acceleration (m/s2) 1.62 9.78 0.166
Escape velocity (km/s) 2.38 11.2 0.213
GM (x 106 km3/s2) 0.00490 0.39860 0.0123
Bond albedo 0.11 0.306 0.360
Geometric albedo 0.12 0.434 0.28
V-band magnitude V(1,0) -0.08 -3.99 -
Solar irradiance (W/m2) 1361.0 1361.0 1.000
Black-body temperature (K) 270.4 254.0 1.065
Topographic range (km) 13 20 0.650
Moment of inertia (I/MR2) 0.394 0.3308 1.191
J2 (x 10-6) 202.7 1082.63 0.187

Orbital parameters (for orbit about the Earth)

Moon
Semimajor axis (106 km) 0.3844
Perigee (106 km)* 0.3633
Apogee (106 km)* 0.4055
Revolution period (days) 27.3217
Synodic period (days) 29.53
Mean orbital velocity (km/s) 1.022
Max. orbital velocity (km/s) 1.082
Min. orbital velocity (km/s) 0.970
Inclination to ecliptic (deg) 5.145
Inclination to Earth equator (deg) 18.28 - 28.58
Orbit eccentricity 0.0549
Sidereal rotation period (hrs) 655.728
Obliquity to orbit (deg) 6.68
Recession rate from Earth (cm/yr) 3.8

Mean values at opposition from Earth


Distance from Earth (equator, km) 378,000
Apparent diameter (seconds of arc) 1896
Apparent visual magnitude -12.74

* These represent mean apogee and perigee for the lunar orbit,
and were used for calculating the maximum and minimum velocities.
The orbit changes over the course of the year so the distance
from the Moon to Earth roughly ranges from 357,000 km to 407,000 km,
giving velocities ranging from 1.100 to 0.966 km/s.

Lunar Atmosphere
Diurnal temperature range (equator): 95 K to 390 K (~ -290 F to +240 F)
Total mass of atmosphere: ~25,000 kg
Surface pressure (night): 3 x 10-15 bar (2 x 10-12 torr)
Abundance at surface: 2 x 105 particles/cm3

Estimated Composition (night, particles per cubic cm):


Helium 4 (4He) - 40,000 ; Neon 20 (20Ne) - 40,000 ; Hydrogen (H2) - 35,000
Argon 40 (40Ar) - 30,000 ; Neon 22 (22Ne) - 5,000 ; Argon 36 (36Ar) - 2,000
Methane - 1000 ; Ammonia - 1000 ; Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - 1000
Trace Oxygen (O+), Aluminum (Al+), Silicon (Si+)
Possible Phosphorus (P+), Sodium (Na+), Magnesium (Mg+)

Composition of the tenuous lunar atmosphere is poorly known and variable,


these are estimates of the upper limits of the nighttime ambient atmosphere
composition. Daytime levels were difficult to measure due to heating and
outgassing of Apollo surface experiments.

For information on the Earth, see the Earth Fact Sheet.

If no sub- or superscripts appear on this page - for example, if the "Mass" is given in units of "(1024 kg)" -
you may want to check the notes on the sub- and superscripts.

Notes on the factsheets - definitions of parameters, units, notes on sub- and superscripts, etc.

Planetary Fact Table - metric units


Planetary Fact Table - U.S. units
Planetary Fact Table - Earth ratio

Moon Home Page


Directory to other Planetary Fact Sheets

Author/Curator:
Dr. David R. Williams, [email protected]
NSSDCA, Mail Code 690.1
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
+1-301-286-1258

NASA Official: Ed Grayzeck, [email protected]


Last Updated: 13 January 2020, DRW

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