Posted: November 19th, 2022

Description of Space Objects: The Moon

Description of Space Objects: The Moon, Orion, and Iota Cancri

Description of Space Objects: The Moon, Orion, and Iota Cancri
The Moon
The moon (Luna) is a natural satellite that orbits the Earth once in every month. It has a synchronous earth rotation, meaning the same phase always faces the Earth. The moon was formed 30 to 50 million years after the solar system, that is, approximately 4.5 billion years ago. It was possibly formed after the collision between the Earth and the Mars-sized body. The moon is made of debris both the Earth and the impacting Mars-like object. The moon has crystallized ‘Magma Ocean,’ and rocks that form lunar crusts. The moon also has a core composed of solid, iron-rich materials which are about 240 km in radius (Wilkinson, 2010). The partially molten layer in the mantle extends from the lowest layer of moon’s crust. The mantle is approximately 90 km thick and contains minerals like pyroxene and olivine that have oxygen, silicon, iron and magnesium atoms. Its crust has 70 to 150 km thickness with silicon, magnesium, oxygen, calcium, iron and aluminum with some small amounts of uranium, titanium, hydrogen, thorium and potassium (Wilkinson, 2010). The moon was engulfed by molten lava, hence, on its surface, it contains regolith, a combination of rocky debris and dust, produced during the collision, giving it its color.
According to NASA, Earth’s moon is the fifth largest in the entire solar system, brightest after the sun, and largest in the earth’s night sky. The moon makes the Earth habitable since it moderates its wobbling along the axis, controls climate stability, causes tides, and creates a rhyme that has guided people since ages (Crescent, 2017). The moon is inhabitable for the following reasons. The temperatures in this object can drop as low as 233 degrees Celsius below 0. In a similar manner, due to the absence of atmosphere, the temperatures can be very hot. Second, the moon has no magnetic fields, making it exposed to the direct radiations from the sun, which is lethal to people. The moon lacks or has very little water (negligible) that cannot support life. Lastly, the gravitational force at the moon is 1/6 that of the Earth which habitats are not used to. The part of the moon that is best to set up a base is at its Southern Pole because it has some water-ice reserves and a relatively stable temperature of about 0 degrees Celsius.
Tides are as a result of the gravitational pull between the moon and earth. The ocean or sea surface that directly faces the moon experiences high tides while the rest of the sea has lower tidal range. When tides retreat, the rock and land depressions trap seawaters and form tide pools. The retreating tides often teems plants and animals which must survive the ecological extremes to survive, for instance, crabs, snails, and barnacles. Moreover, tides clean wastes from the river and ocean shores, enhance river navigability, promote navigation and reduces the freezing of the ocean water. The moon also moderates the Earth’s wobbling on its axis. Without the moon, the Earth would wobble a lot. The gravitational force between the moon and the Earth is responsible in controlling this wobble.

Figure 1: The moon retrieved from https://moon.nasa.gov/about.cfm
The Orion
The Orion is a commonly known space constellation that is found on the celestial equator. It is visible regardless of the part of the world one is viewing it from. Among other star constellation, Orion is the most conspicuous in the night sky. Orion has Beta Orionis or Rigel (its brightest star), and Alpha Orionis or Betelgeuse which are blue-white and red supergiant in color respectively. The Orion is best visible at latitude 85 and 75 degrees with the ascension of 5 hours and declination of 5 degrees (Shukla & Mamun, 2015). The Orion Nebular is at the middle in Orion constellation and is a formation of hydrogen, helium, dust, and other ionized gases instead of being a star (Smith, 2006). Stars form at Orion Nebula from the relatively thick dust and intercellular gas concentration known as molecular clouds. The regions allow gases to become molecular when atoms bind together at the temperatures just above absolute zero ( about 10 to 20 Kelvin).
Various life aspects were linked with Orion, particularly in the Orion Nebula. According to the space agency in Europe, in a telescope observation of Orion Nebula in 2010, they recorded that at 1500 light years from the Earth, and to the south of Orion belt, there were elements of life-enabling organic compounds and chemicals. The astronomers spotted samples of life-sustaining molecules such as water, methanol, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide, hydrogen cyanide, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde, and dimethyl ether. Scientists believe that Orion would become a new breeding habitat for life. The fusion of elements necessary for life occurs at temperatures slightly above the absolute zero, between 10 and 20K where molecules fuse to form atoms.

Figure 2: The Orion Nebular retrieved http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/02/M42-Orion-Nebula-2-5-2016.jpg
The Iota Cancri
Iota Cancri is a double star (Iota Cancri 1 and Iota Cancri 2) found in the constellation Cancer at the distance of approximately 300 light years from the surface of the Earth (Moore & Watson, 2012). Iota A is notably dimmer than Iota B located a couple degrees northeastwards; however, the name ‘Iota’ applies for both. Iota Cnc is a perfect example of a wide binary consisting of Iota B, a white class dwarf of 6.57 magnitude coupled with Iota A, yellow-white class giant (G7.5) approximately 30 arcseconds apart. The brighter A renders the distance measure between A and B useless. Iota Cancri A shines with 215 suns while B glows with 16 suns at 5000 and 8800 Kelvin respectively.
Iota-A was recently listed supergiant due to lesser hydrogen to fuse into helium in its core and has therefore expanded in size. “B” has ordinary fusion of hydrogen with a mass of 1.9 solar while A has a mass of 3.5. Iota Cancri A has become a white dwarf, a condition that B will follow in about a billion years. Iota Cancri is not yet intensely studied. The temperatures in Iota Cnc cannot support any life (Streicher, 2016).

Figure 3: The Iota Cancri retrieved from http://www.starobserver.eu/multiplestars/iotacancri.html

References
Wilkinson, J. (2010). The Moon in Close-up: A Next Generation Astronomer’s Guide. Springer Science & Business Media.
Shukla, P. K., & Mamun, A. A. (2015). Introduction to dusty plasma physics. CRC Press.
Smith, I. W. (2006). Reactions at very low temperatures: gas kinetics at a new frontier. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 45(18), 2842-2861.
Streicher, M. (2016). Sky delights: a crab named cancer. MNASSA: Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, 75(1_2), 28-33.
Moore, P., & Watson, J. (2012). Observing the Stars and Galaxies. In Astronomy with a Budget Telescope (pp. 65-108). Springer New York.
Crescent, V. (2017). Sky & Telescope news. Sat, 14, 39.