Photo by SevenStorm
Plenty of intriguing moon mysteries still haven’t been solved, which will undoubtedly entice everyone to read Scott Harral’s Moon Luck.
In the book, Mr. Harral tells the story of astronauts living on the moon tending to their scientific duties. That is until a particular “accident” occurs leaving everyone in distraught. The book’s underlying premise then begins to surface: is it murder if it happens on the surface of the moon?
If you find the book’s premise interesting, then what we have here for you today are some huge and beguiling moon mysteries that will further your curiosity about Scott Harral’s book.
First Mystery: The Occurrence of Tidal Locking
We’ve only seen a singular side of the moon because it’s tidally locked. Tidal locking occurs between a pair of astronomical bodies that co-orbit whenever one of the bodies achieves a state where any net change regarding its rotation rate throughout the progression of a complete orbit.
Tidal locking results in astronomical bodies only showing one side of their surface. It’s an event common for other moons in our solar system. But what makes tidal locking so interesting is that astronomers are still unsure why tidal locking happens.
Astronomers don’t have a clear idea of what circumstances encourage tidal locking, when it takes place, and how it develops. The mystery of tidal locking isn’t something that only happens to our local moons. This phenomenon extends throughout the observable universe and is even seen in exoplanets like those in the TRAPPIST-1 solar system.
Second Mystery: Volcanoes on the Moon’s Surface
Nowadays, our chances of witnessing volcanic eruptions on the moon are slim to none. However, research proposes that lunar volcanoes remain active for the last 100 million years. 100 million years is a long time, but if you scale that on the cosmos’ time, that’s roughly a week ago.
The mystery kicks in when we look into the fact that we don’t have enough information about the moon’s volcanism to figure everything out. In Scott Harral’s Moon Luck, the astronauts and scientists are trying to resolve an issue they didn’t expect to happen. A problem that their story of astronauts living on the moon wasn’t prepared for—like an angry volcano spewing scorching lava.
Various observations are taken from the orbiter imaging, along with numerous lunar rocks providing a bit of credibility to the attempts to explain the moon’s history. Many surfaces on the moon appear to be younger than others, and astronomers are still trying to figure out why. It’s one of those intriguing moon mysteries experts don’t have answers yet.
Third Mystery: The Moon’s Origins
Believe it or not, experts still don’t know the exact origin of the moon or how it formed. The Apollo 11 mission gave us the initial insights that we now have regarding the moon’s mysterious origin. The mission personnel took roughly 50 pounds of moon rocks, which started decades of research to unlock the secrets of the moon’s birth.
Scientists and astronomers then studied them, leading them to come up with the most credible explanation. It states that the moon started as an ocean of magma. Imagine an enormous marble of lava spinning and orbiting around Earth until everything cools.
Years later, another hypothesis was presented, stating that the moon was made from Earth. A giant impact with another Mars-sized astronomical body ejected tons of debris and soil into outer space. The debris then clumped together for eons until the moon was finally formed.
These theories sound plausible, but they’re not 100% accurate and are mainly based on data they still couldn’t confirm.
Fourth Mystery: How Did Water Find its Way to the Moon?
There is water on the moon; we’re not referring to a small amount of interstellar H2O. Instead, vast quantities of water-ice may lurk underneath the surface, particularly around the lunar poles. This water might be collected and used to create a new kind of rocket fuel or to support a future lunar settlement.
But where did all that water-ice come from? No one is genuinely certain yet. Theories include chemical interactions triggered by cometary bombardments, solar wind, meteorite strikes that brought the water from space, and outgassing processes that forced water embedded in the recesses out toward the surface.
And there you have it, folks—a couple of intriguing moon mysteries that astronomers and scientists haven’t solved yet. These exciting mysteries make Scott Harral’s Moon Luck, the story of astronauts living on the moon, make people more curious about the book and whether these mysteries are explored within the tale.
Grab yourself a copy of Moon Luck today by clicking here and visiting Scott Harral’s website!