In the Star Wars universe, everyone’s favourite furry aliens, the Ewoks, famously lived on the “forest moon of Endor”. In scientific terms, the Ewok’s home world would be referred to as an exomoon, which…
Articles on Moon
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The moon formed 4.47 billion years ago, nearly 100 million years after the start of the solar system, according to a new…
Finding liquid water on a celestial body within the solar system is exciting. The only thing that is probably more exciting is finding an ocean full of it. Today such news comes via Cassini, which has…
“Tide goes in, tide goes out…you can’t explain that.” So claimed US talkshow anchor Bill O’Reilly, in a baffling attempt to discredit atheism which became something of a YouTube sensation. I have been…
Earlier this week China launched one of its venerable Long March rockets. That event in itself is no longer news as China has become one of the world’s busiest and most reliable providers of satellite…
With India and China planning lunar surface missions, privately-funded space entrepreneurs competing for the US$40 million Google Lunar X Prize and discussions around lunar mining intensifying, working…
It seems like science fiction that 44 years ago Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin traveled nearly a quarter of a million miles to walk on the surface of the Moon. When the crew of Apollo 17 returned…
As a teenager I observed a strange phenomenon. On awakening from an unusually vivid dream, I would often find that the moon was full. And as the silvery light prevailed on subsequent nights, my nocturnal…
This Sunday night, June 23, at precisely 9.33pm AEST, the full moon becomes a “supermoon” – an especially bright full moon. This extra brightness occurs because the moon is closer to Earth than normal…
The United Nations’ Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is meeting in Vienna this week, and representatives of 74 countries will discuss, among other things, how to ensure space is maintained…
Minerals in moon craters may be remnants of asteroids that slammed into it and not the satellite’s innards, as long believed…
The diving behaviour of sharks has been shown to be affected by the moon, water temperature and time of day. Research on…
Like all relationships, our association with the moon has had its ups and downs. In this series we’ve talked about the nature of the satellite and how we think it was formed - in a giant collision that…
From encouraging the first steps of life migrating from the oceans to the land, to stabilising Earth’s axial tilt against chaotic excursions, the moon is often put forth almost as a magical ingredient…
Technically, Pink Floyd had it wrong. The space-facing side of the moon isn’t dark (except at full moon when the Earth is between the sun and the moon). Not that you’d know that, given we always see the…
The more we learn about the formation and evolution of our solar system, the more we realise it was far from a sedate, gentle process. Everywhere we look we find evidence the final stages of planetary…
The moon. Our nearest neighbour. The main source of the ocean’s tides, and a beacon that drives the lives of animals across the globe. And also, to date, the only object beyond Earth on which humans have…
Australian researchers have developed a substance that looks and behaves like soil from the moon’s surface and can be mixed with polymers to create ‘lunar concrete’, a finding that may help advance plans…
The prospect of people settling away from Earth has been a topic for dreamers and visionaries for some time. But if it’s ever to happen for real, there needs to be more than starry-eyed optimism. There…
NASA deliberately crashed two decommissioned space craft into the moon today in a controlled landing aimed at preserving heritage sites on the lunar surface. The twin space ships, named Ebb and Flow, were…
Top contributors
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Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria Research Institute; The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University
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Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
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Professor of Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi
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Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
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Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University
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Postdoctoral research associate, University of Oxford
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Professor in Earth and Planetary Science, Western University
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Reader in Astrophysics, Keele University
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Andrew Dempster is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research; Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
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Associate Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
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Podcast host, The Conversation
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Space Plasma Physicist, Imperial College London
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Professor of Planetary Science and Exploration, The Open University
