ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Solar System, Today Extra, Apparent Magnitude
13 Dec 2016
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Extra credit assignment due at beginning of exam (10 pts possible) Has an apparent brightness (apparent magnitude) of 1. 35 mags. Measured moonquakes, changing distance to the moon, moon"s magnetic field. The craters are from comets, asteroids, rocks hitting the moon over the past 4 billion years. The dark spots are lava flows caused by big hits in the distant past when the moon"s core was molten. Currently the moon has a thick mantel and a small core that may be partially molten. The thick mantle means that lava flows can no longer happen on the surface. The earth is still molten because it is bigger; thus maintained a hot core for longer. The moon is the largest moon of a terrestrial planet by far. The surface of the moon is 3. 5-4 byo; around the same time as earth, perhaps a little younger. The density of the rocks on the moon is less than that on earth.
