One result of the
tidal effects of the
Earth on the
Moon is synchronous rotation. You may have noticed
already that the Moon always keeps one face to us -
that we never see the Dark Side of the Moon (that
famous double-platinum rock album by Pink Floyd not
withstanding).Time is a result of our lunar
observations.
Be careful in assuming the Moon does not rotate.
On the contrary, rotation of the moon is the same
period of orbit of the Moon - 29 and a half days.
This time looks pretty familiar - 1 month on the
"lunar" calendar. A standard month is based on one
complete lifecycle of the Moon. There are
variations:
- A Blue Moon
- A Harvest Moon
Specifically, a Harvest Moon is the full Moon
that occurs around September 23:
- This represents the autumnal equinox
- Also occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, but around March 21
- Orbit of the Moon is lowest at this time so the full Moon appears to rise quicker
- Because of the low orbit, the full Moon appears to rise the same time for the next few successive days
A Blue Moon does not describe its color, but the rare event of two full moons occurring in one month - hence the
phrase "once in a blue moon." A typical month is 30 to 31 days while a lunar month is about 29.5 days. One can see why this is a pretty rare event.
Life is a result of the
tidal forces of the Moon. Isaac Asimov
wrote in his "Tragedy of the Moon" 1972,
that life evolved in the sea did not want to move to land.
There was no reason to, no movements to force the
life forms to the surface. One look at tide pools
and one can understand the purpose of this statement
- that we do life in a unique environment:
This site is not designed to argue the existence of
life only on
Earth or other matters of divine
influence - that is best left to the forums. What we
do have is proof that life did begin in the sea, by
the most early fossils of life on
Earth, and it can
be argued that
tidal forces swept up this life onto
the land. The image of the tide pool above shows a
short-lived
Universe in and of itself. One thing
is certain - tide pools like this one will not exist
without Lunar influence. For a more detailed look
at the process of
tidal forces, be sure to take a
look at the
Science section, under
Physics.
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