The Moon - Introduction

Its hard to imagine the history of Earth without our Moon. For as long as man walked this Earth, the Moon served as "lesser light for the night" and faithful time-piece. The phases of the Moon were used to help guide the Harvest, or help determine the time of the river floods.
How our Moon came to existence is still under speculation. There are several possible scenarios:

Fission Theory - the Earth spinning so fast during early formation that a piece broke off forming the Moon
Capture Theory - the Moon formed elsewhere passed close to Earth and was captured
Co-Creation Theory - the Earth and Moon formed and evolved together
Collisional Ejection Theory - a large piece impacted the Earth and broke off pieces of the …show more content…

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Moon Introduction
The regular daily and monthly rhythms of Earth's only natural satellite, the Moon, have guided timekeepers for thousands of years. Its influence on Earth's cycles, notably tides, has also been charted by many cultures in many ages. More than 70 spacecraft have been sent to the Moon; 12 astronauts have walked upon its surface and brought back 382 kg (842 pounds) of lunar rock and soil to Earth.
The presence of the Moon stabilizes Earth's wobble. This has led to a much more stable climate over billions of years, which may have affected the course of the development and growth of life on Earth.
How did the Moon come to be? The leading theory is that a Mars-sized body once hit Earth and the resulting debris (from both Earth and the impacting body) accumulated to form the Moon. Scientists believe that the Moon was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago (the age of the oldest collected lunar rocks). When the Moon formed, its outer layers melted under very high temperatures, forming the lunar crust, probably from a global "magma ocean."
From Earth, we see the same face of the Moon all the time because the Moon rotates just once on its own axis in very nearly the same time that it travels once around Earth. This is