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Summary of Contents for Blue Marble LUNARSCOPE
- Page 1 TABLETOP TELESCOPE INSTRUCTIONS & LEARNING GUIDE...
- Page 2 WARNING: NEVER aim your Lunarscope at the sun or even close to the sun! Instant and irreversible damage can occur, including CHOKING HAZARD SMALL PARTS. blindness! Do not let children use any telescope NOT FOR CHILDREN UNDER 3 YRS. without adult supervision.
- Page 3 INSTRUCTIONS This Lunarscope has been designed to show you the Moon’s craters, rilles (valleys), and other features. You can also use your Lunarscope as a terrestrial (land) scope to study birds, animals, and landscapes at a distance. Parts of your Lunarscope...
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Page 4: Before You Begin
Once you have focused on an object to view, try not to bump or move the Lunarscope. Even the slightest movement can affect your ability to see an object clearly. If this happens, it’s likely you’ll only see black or gray through the eyepiece. - Page 5 (Figure 5) Figure 5 THE ALTAZIMUTH MOUNT This Lunarscope is fitted with an altazimuth mount. Altitude refers to the vertical, or “up-and-down” movement of the telescope, while 7. Loosen the chrome screw located on...
- Page 6 5. Once you’ve centered the object in the finderscope, tighten the azimuth and altitude lock knobs. (Try not to bump or move the Lunarscope after centering the object. Even the slightest movement can affect your ability to see an object clearly.
- Page 7 If you keep the dust cap on your air and any condensation or dust that has Lunarscope when it is not in use and accumulated on the discharge tube. Spray avoid handling the lenses or mirrors,...
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Page 8: Frequently Asked Questions
Your Atmospheric conditions, air currents, as Lunarscope will perform much better if well as light and air pollution also affect the lenses and the air inside the tube are viewing quality. - Page 9 LEΑ Α RNING GUIDE RNING GUIDE SOME FACTS ABOUT THE MOON Size The Moon is about one-fourth the size of the Earth. Its diameter is about 2,160 miles (3,475 kilometers), compared with Earth’s diameter of 7,918 miles (12,742 kilometers). Measuring it at the equator, it is 6,783 miles in circumference (10,917 kilometers around).
- Page 10 The Moon’s small mass also keeps it from having any real atmosphere. It has an ultra-thin layer of gaseous atoms, about a trillion times thinner than Earth’s atmosphere, that astronomers call an exosphere. Without an atmosphere, the Moon has no protection from meteorites, solar winds, or cosmic rays. With no particles for sound or light waves to bounce off of, sounds cannot be heard on the Moon, and the sky always looks black.
- Page 11 HOW DID THE MOON FORM? Scientists believe that the Moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago—some 100 million years after our planet was formed—when something about the size of Mars crashed into the Earth. The impact threw a huge amount of debris into orbit, and that debris gradually came together to form the Moon.
- Page 12 PHASES OF THE MOON One of the most obvious and Synchronous Rotation coolest features about the Moon is how it changes shape in the sky from one night to the next Day 14 as it reflects the Sun’s rays. This Earth happens because the Moon is in synchronous rotation around the...
- Page 13 LUNAR ECLIPSES As the Earth and the Moon orbit and rotate, they sometimes block each other from the rays of the Sun. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun. The Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow and then emerges about four hours later.
- Page 14 FEATURES TO LOOK FOR ON THE MOON’S SURFACE Mountains In addition to the mares, the Moon has lots of mountain ranges. In 1610, Galileo published drawings he made of some of the Moon’s mountains. He measured the shadows cast by the peaks to determine the height of the mountains, some of which are nearly as tall...
- Page 15 We think of craters as round holes or bowl-shaped depressions in the surface, but they are much more complex. The largest craters often have a flat floor with mountains in the center, caused by the surface rebounding after the initial impact.
- Page 16 LUNAR EXPLORATION Luna Program, 1959–1976 In 1959, the Soviet Union sent three different probes to the Moon. Luna 1, as it was called, flew past the Moon at a distance of 3,725 miles (5,995 kilometers) and its equipment revealed that the Moon has no magnetic field. Luna 2, sent in September, was the first object sent by humans to reach the Moon, crashing into the surface near the Archimedes and Aristides craters.
- Page 17 Surveyor Program, 1966–1968 The U.S. Surveyor program successfully landed five probes at various sites on the lunar surface. Their primary mission was to demonstrate that it was possible to slow a spacecraft enough to make a controlled landing and to scout out possible landing sites for the Apollo spacecraft.
- Page 18 COOL SCIENCE F COOL SCIENCE FΑ Α CT: When Neil Armstrong took his first step on the Moon, he left a clear footprint in the lunar dust. Because there is no wind or atmospheric disturbance on the Moon, that footprint and all the ones that followed it will remain perfectly intact for millions of years.
- Page 19 What did they leave up there? In commemoration of being the first humans on the Moon, the astronauts of Apollo 11 left several ceremonial objects. They left a plaque bearing the words “We came in peace for all mankind,” a cast golden olive branch symbolizing peace, a silicon disk bearing goodwill wishes from 73 world leaders, and, of course, an American flag.
- Page 20 © Blue Marble™ All rights reserved. Blue Marble™ and the Blue Marble logo are trademarks of JMW Sales, Inc. Customer Service: nasasupport@jmwsales.com...
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