In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar maria) and the lighter-colored highlands (and some lowlands) of the lunar surface.
There are various explanations for how the Man in the Moon came to be.
A longstanding European tradition holds that the man was banished to the Moon for some crime. Jewish lore says that the image of Jacob is engraved on the Moon. [1] [2] Another held that he is the man caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the Book of Numbers XV.32–36. [3] Some Germanic cultures thought he was a woodcutter found working on the Sabbath. [4] There is a Roman legend that he is a sheep-thief.[ citation needed ]
One medieval Christian tradition claims that he is Cain, the Wanderer, forever doomed to circle the Earth. Dante's Inferno [5] alludes to this:
For now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine
On either hemisphere, touching the wave
Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight
The moon was round.
This is mentioned again in his Paradise : [6]
But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots
Upon this body, which below on earth
Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?
John Lyly says in the prologue to his Endymion (1591), "There liveth none under the sunne, that knows what to make of the man in the moone." [7]
In Norse mythology, Máni is the male personification of the Moon who crosses the sky in a horse-drawn carriage. He is continually pursued by the Great Wolf Hati who catches him at Ragnarök. Máni simply means "Moon".
In Chinese mythology, the goddess Chang'e is stranded upon the Moon after consuming a double dose of an immortality potion. In some versions of the myth, she is accompanied by Yu Tu, a Moon rabbit. [8] Another mythology tells the story of Wu Gang, a man on the Moon who is trying to cut down a tree that always regrows. [9]
In Haida mythology, the figure represents a boy gathering sticks. The boy's father had told him the Moon's light would brighten the night, allowing the chore to be completed. Not wanting to gather sticks, the boy complained and ridiculed the Moon. As punishment for his disrespect, the boy was taken from Earth and trapped on the Moon. [10] [11]
In Japanese mythology, it is said that a tribe of human-like spiritual beings live on the Moon. This is especially explored in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
In Vietnamese mythology, the Man in the Moon is named Cuội. He was originally a woodcutter on Earth who owned a magical banyan. One day, when his wife ignorantly watered the tree with unclean water and caused it to uproot itself to fly away, Cuội grabbed its roots and was taken to the Moon. There, he eternally accompanied the Moon Lady and the Jade Rabbit. [12] [13] The trio has become the personifications of the Tết Trung Thu, when they descend to the mortal world and give out cellophane lanterns, mooncakes and gifts to children. [14]
In Latvian legends, two maidens went naked from the sauna with carrying poles to the well. While collecting water, one of the women noted how beautiful the moon is. The other was unimpressed, saying her butt is prettier and proceeded to moon the moon. As a punishment, either Dievs or Mēness (Moon deity) put the woman along with a carrying pole on the moon, with her butt now being visible to everyone. [15]
There is a traditional European belief that the Man in the Moon enjoyed drinking, especially claret. An old ballad runs (original spelling):
Our man in the moon drinks clarret,
With powder-beef, turnep, and carret.
If he doth so, why should not you
Drink until the sky looks blew? [16]
In the English Middle Ages and renaissance, the Moon was held to be the god of drunkards, and at least three London taverns were named "The Man in the Moone". [17] The man in the Moon is named in an early dated English nursery rhyme:
The man in the moon came tumbling down
And asked his way to Norwich;
He went by the south and burnt his mouth
With supping cold pease porridge.
One tradition sees a figure of a man carrying a wide burden on his back. He is sometimes seen as accompanied by a small dog. [18] Various cultures recognise other examples of lunar pareidolia, such as the Moon rabbit. [19]
In the Northern Hemisphere, a common Western perception of the face has it that the figure's eyes are Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis, its nose is Sinus Aestuum, and its open mouth is Mare Nubium and Mare Cognitum. [20] This particular human face can also be seen in tropical regions on both sides of the equator. However, the Moon orientation associated with the face is observed less frequently—and eventually not at all—as one moves toward the South Pole.
Conventionalized illustrations of the Man in the Moon seen in Western art often show a very simple face in the full moon, or a human profile in the crescent moon, corresponding to no actual markings. Some depict a man with a face turned away from the viewer on the ground, for example when viewed from North America, with Jesus Christ's crown shown as the lighter ring around Mare Imbrium. Another common one is a cowled Death's head looking down at Earth, with the black lava rock 'hood' around the white dust bone of the skull, and also forming the eye sockets.
"The Man in the Moon" can also refer to a mythological character said to live on or in the Moon, but who is not necessarily represented by the markings on the face of the Moon. An example is Yue-Laou, from Chinese tradition; [21] another is Aiken Drum from Scotland.
The Man in the Moone by Francis Godwin, published in 1638, is one of the earliest novels thought of as containing several traits prototypical of science fiction.
The Man in the Moon is made up of various lunar maria (which ones depend on the pareidolic image seen). These vast, flat spots on the Moon are called "maria" or "seas" because, for a long time, astronomers believed they were large bodies of water. They are large areas formed by lava that covered up old craters and then cooled, becoming smooth, basalt rock. [22]
The same side of the Moon, containing these maria that make up the man, is always facing Earth. This is due to a tidal locking or synchronous orbit. Thought to have occurred because of the gravitational forces partially caused by the Moon's oblong shape, its rotation has slowed to the point where it rotates exactly once on each trip around the Earth. This causes the same side of the Moon to always face toward Earth. [23]
A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth. In common usage, the four major phases are the new moon, the first quarter, the full moon and the last quarter; the four minor phases are waxing crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, and waning crescent. A lunar month is the time between successive recurrences of the same phase: due to the eccentricity of the Moon's orbit, this duration is not perfectly constant but averages about 29.5 days.
Mare Imbrium is a vast lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the collision of a proto-planet during the Late Heavy Bombardment. Basaltic lava later flooded the giant crater to form the flat volcanic plain seen today. The basin's age has been estimated using uranium–lead dating methods to approximately 3.9 billion years ago, and the diameter of the impactor has been estimated to be 250 ± 25 km. The Moon's maria have fewer features than other areas of the Moon because molten lava pooled in the craters and formed a relatively smooth surface. Mare Imbrium is not as flat as it would have originally been when it first formed as a result of later events that have altered its surface.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid-September to early October of the Gregorian calendar. On this day, the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of autumn.
Copernicus is a lunar impact crater located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum. It was named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. It typifies craters that formed during the Copernican period in that it has a prominent ray system. It may have been created by debris from the breakup of the parent body of asteroid 495 Eulalia 800 million years ago.
Chang'e, originally known as Heng'e (姮娥), is the goddess of the Moon and wife of Hou Yi, the great archer. Renowned by her beauty, Chang'e is also known for her ascending to the Moon with her pet Yu Tu, the Moon Rabbit and living in the Moon Palace (廣寒宮). She is one of the major goddesses in Chinese mythology, Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. In modern times, Chang'e is the namesake of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.
The lunar maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by lava flowing into ancient impact basins. They were dubbed maria by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas. They are less reflective than the "highlands" as a result of their iron-rich composition, and hence appear dark to the naked eye. The maria cover about 16% of the lunar surface, mostly on the side visible from Earth. The few maria on the far side are much smaller, residing mostly in very large craters. The traditional nomenclature for the Moon also includes one oceanus (ocean), as well as features with the names lacus ('lake'), palus ('marsh'), and sinus ('bay'). The last three are smaller than maria, but have the same nature and characteristics.
The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, opposite to the near side, because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. Compared to the near side, the far side's terrain is rugged, with a multitude of impact craters and relatively few flat and dark lunar maria ("seas"), giving it an appearance closer to other barren places in the Solar System such as Mercury and Callisto. It has one of the largest craters in the Solar System, the South Pole–Aitken basin. The hemisphere has sometimes been called the "Dark side of the Moon", where "dark" means "unknown" instead of "lacking sunlight" – each location on the Moon experiences two weeks of sunlight while the opposite location experiences night.
Drude is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, in the rugged Montes Cordillera range that forms the outer ring around the Mare Orientale impact basin. It is located just behind the west-southwest limb, and this area is sometimes brought into sight from Earth during favorable librations. However, even at such times, the crater is viewed from the edge and little detail can be seen.
Mons Gruithuisen Gamma (γ) is a lunar dome that lies to the north of the crater Gruithuisen at the western edge of the Mare Imbrium.
Vallis Alpes is a lunar valley feature that bisects the Montes Alpes range. It extends 166 km from the Mare Imbrium basin, trending east-northeast to the edge of the Mare Frigoris. The valley is narrow at both ends and widens to a maximum width of about 10 km along the middle stretch. The selenographic coordinates of the center of this feature are 49.21°N 3.63°E.
The geology of the Moon is quite different from that of Earth. The Moon lacks a true atmosphere, and the absence of free oxygen and water eliminates erosion due to weather. Instead, the surface is eroded much more slowly through the bombardment of the lunar surface by micrometeorites. It does not have any known form of plate tectonics, it has a lower gravity, and because of its small size, it cooled faster. In addition to impacts, the geomorphology of the lunar surface has been shaped by volcanism, which is now thought to have ended less than 50 million years ago. The Moon is a differentiated body, with a crust, mantle, and core.
Mons Huygens is the tallest mountain in the Moon's Montes Apenninus range. Adjacent to the west is Mons Ampère. The Montes Apenninus were formed by the impact that created Mare Imbrium. Mons Huygens rises 5,300 m from its Mare Imbrium base, per altimetry data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The mountain was named after the Dutch astronomer, mathematician and physician Christiaan Huygens. He is known for discovering Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
The near side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces towards Earth, opposite to the far side. Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth—a situation known as tidal locking.
The Moon rabbit or Moon hare is a mythical figure in East Asian and indigenous American folklore, based on interpretations that identify the dark markings on the near side of the Moon as a rabbit or hare. In East Asian mythology, the rabbit is seen as pounding with a mortar and pestle, but the contents of the mortar differ among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese folklore. In Chinese folklore, the rabbit is often portrayed as a companion of the Moon goddess Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her and some show the making of cakes or rice cakes; but in Japanese and Korean versions, the rabbit is pounding the ingredients for mochi or tteok or some other type of rice cakes; in the Vietnamese version, the Moon rabbit often appears with Hằng Nga and Chú Cuội, and like the Chinese version, the Vietnamese Moon rabbit also pounding the elixir of immortality in the mortar. In some Chinese versions, the rabbit pounds medicine for the mortals and some include making of mooncakes. Moon folklore from certain Amerindian cultures of North America also has rabbit themes and characters.
The Man in the Moone is a book by the English divine and Church of England bishop Francis Godwin (1562–1633), describing a "voyage of utopian discovery". Long considered to be one of his early works, it is now generally thought to have been written in the late 1620s. It was first published posthumously in 1638 under the pseudonym of Domingo Gonsales. The work is notable for its role in what was called the "new astronomy", the branch of astronomy influenced especially by Nicolaus Copernicus. Although Copernicus is the only astronomer mentioned by name, the book also draws on the theories of Johannes Kepler and William Gilbert. Godwin's astronomical theories were greatly influenced by Galileo Galilei's Sidereus Nuncius (1610), but unlike Galileo, Godwin proposes that the dark spots on the Moon are seas, one of many parallels with Kepler's Somnium sive opus posthumum de astronomia lunari of 1634.
Hadley–Apennine is a region on the near side of Earth's Moon that served as the landing site for the American Apollo 15 mission, the fourth crewed landing on the Moon and the first of the "J-missions", in July 1971. The site is located on the eastern edge of Mare Imbrium on a lava plain known as Palus Putredinis. Hadley–Apennine is bordered by the Montes Apenninus, a mountain range, and Hadley Rille, a meandering channel, on the east and west, respectively.
Lunar pareidolia refers to the pareidolic images seen by humans on the face of the Moon. The Moon's surface is a complex mixture of dark areas and lighter areas. Being a natural element seen constantly by humans throughout the ages, many cultures have seen shapes in these dark and light areas that have reminded them of people, animals, or objects, often related to their folklore and cultural symbols; the best-known are the Man in the Moon in Western folklore and the Moon Rabbit of Asia and the Americas. Other cultures perceive the silhouette of a woman, a crow, a frog, a moose, a buffalo, or a dragon in the full moon. To many cultures of Melanesia and Polynesia, the Moon is seen to be a cook over a three-stone fire. Alternatively, the vague shape of the overall dark and light regions of the Moon may resemble a Yin Yang symbol.
Yutu was a robotic lunar rover that formed part of the Chinese Chang'e 3 mission to the Moon. It was launched at 17:30 UTC on 1 December 2013, and reached the Moon's surface on 14 December 2013. The mission marks the first soft landing on the Moon since 1976 and the first rover to operate there since the Soviet Lunokhod 2 ceased operations on 11 May 1973.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Moon:
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .舊言月中有桂，有蟾蜍，故異書言月桂高五百丈，下有一人常斫之，樹創隨合。人姓吳名剛，西河人，學仙有過，謫令伐樹。
Legends from 8 to 14 cover different variations of this legend. (Latvian language only)
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