Notes

Leah Presentation

 

Although Mercury is a planet and the Moon is a moon, they share many features in common.

 

In comparing Mercury to the Moon, there is the first hint that large moons may have more in common with terrestrial planets than terrestrial planets have with jovian planets.  Comparative planetology works for both planets and moons.

 

The Moon is one of the most common objects in the sky and yet it holds many mysteries.  It is one of the largest moons in the solar system, but it orbits a terrestrial planet, which as a class of planets, have no other naturally occurring moons.  (Mars’s moons were captured.)  Theories for the formation of the moon are outlined and compared in this chapter in chapter 8.

 

Encourage students to observe the Moon regularly, especially during their study of this chapter. In addition to noticing phases and locations, as discussed in Chapter 1, they can pick out large-scale features such as maria and highlands. Try to include information and/or video segments of the Apollo program while covering this section of the text as well. Viewing astronauts bounding across the lunar surface is not only fun to watch, but also emphasizes the lower surface gravity of the Moon. The video of astronaut David Scott dropping a hammer and feather together point out that the Moon has no atmosphere and that Galileo really was right about acceleration due to gravity!

 

First Moon Landing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4

 

Apollo 15: Hammer and Feather demonstration: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6926891572259784994#