TORONTO – It’s there every day, whether you see it or not. But how much do you really know about our nearest neighbour, our constant companion, the moon?
On Friday we’ll be treated to a rare occurrence: a second full moon in a month, frequently referred to as a “blue moon.” (The moon has turned blue a few times in our history, but that was due to various types of air pollution.)
READ MORE: Get ready for Friday’s ‘blue moon’
While you may believe that we see the same face of the moon every day (except when it’s a new moon, of course), the moon actually wobbles so that sometimes we see more of it than other times. This is called libration. Watch the video below to see it in action.
Though we see the same face of the moon all the time — due to something called tidal locking — it’s not always exactly the same. This is due to the moon’s elliptical orbit and tilt. Earth’s 23.5 degree tilt and the position of the sun are also reasons for this lunar dance. In fact, we see about 59 per cent of the moon’s surface, not 50 per cent, as you might think.
And forget about the moon having no atmosphere: as far back as the Apollo missions, small amounts of helium, argon and possibly carbon dioxide and methane were detected. That’s not to say that the next time we land on the moon, we can just pop off our helmets.
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To put it in perspective, at sea level on Earth, each cubic centimetre of air contains 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules. On the moon it’s a paltry 1,000,000.
Also, there is no “dark” side of the moon. A more accurate way to describe that would be to refer to it as the far side of the moon. Because of that tidal locking mentioned earlier, the one face of the moon is always illuminated — to us. But that far side also is illuminated, just when we can’t see it. Check out the video below.
Also, for fans of Doctor Who: the moon is not an egg. Though actually, it is kind of shaped like one.
Contrary to popular belief — and our own eyes — the moon isn’t a perfect sphere. It’s more egg- or lemon-shaped, called an oblate spheroid. It’s like taking a ball and slightly flattening it. In fact, the far side of the moon is actually somewhat smaller than the side facing us.
And another thing: the supermoon isn’t all that super. This new moon craze — when a full moon is at its closest during its orbit around Earth — is a new phenomenon becoming popular over recent years. While it may be somewhat brighter and a bit bigger than normal, there’s nothing really particularly striking about it. You will likely notice that the moon appears much bigger when it is on the horizon, but that’s due to a trick our brain plays on us.
But just in case you’re interested, the next supermoon is Aug. 29. Followed by another on Sept. 28, which will also be the night of a lunar eclipse.
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