ISTRAKON 2010
26 - 28 March, Pazin - Croatia

The Moon (Lat. Luna) is Earth’s only natural satellite and its closest celestial body, 384400 km away on average. The light from the Moon travels 1.25 seconds to Earth. The Moon circles Earth on an elliptic path at the average speed of 1.02 km/s. It is a solid celestial body with a 3473.3 diameter. Its surface is 14 times smaller than Earth’s, its volume 50 times smaller and mass 80 times smaller. Escape velocity is 6 times lower on the Moon. It revolves 27 days, 7 hours and 11.5 seconds. Due to the constant shift in its position relative to the Sun and Earth the lighting of the Moon varies, making 4 phases visible from Earth:

• New Moon
• First Quarter (visible at night)
• Full Moon
• Last Quarter (visible in the morning)

The relation of the Sun, Moon and Earth’s positions results in solar and lunar eclipses. Total eclipse is exploited for linking continental trigonometry networks in cosmic geodesy, which contribute to the creation of a worldwide unique scientific system. Occultation of stars (the Moon concealing stars) can serve the same purpose.

The gravitational attraction of the Moon and of the Sun (in a lesser degree), called the lunisolar influence, causes the Earth’s oceans and lakes to tide and ebb. They also cause the “breathing” of the Earth’s crust which is a 3 times weaker occurrence. The influence of the Moon on humans and other beings is still a mystery; however, it has been established that insects orientate by the Moon.

It is thought that the Moon is around 4.5 billion years old, originating in a comet collision.  Upon the collision, large quantities of material had been expelled into the Earth’s orbit, which shaped the Earth.

The relief of the Moon is also very interesting. Its first sketch was made by Gallilei in 1609. The lowest areas of the Moon are made up of enormous gray surfaces which can sometimes be observed by naked eye. Giovanni Riccioli (1598 - 1671) called these plains seas in 1651, even though they have no water.  The seas are not monotonous plains, rather, there are folds which sometimes resemble walls, a couple of hundred kilometres long. They also have cracks resembling river beds. Large mountain ranges, named after Earth’s mountains (Alps, Apennines, Pyrenees, etc.) frame the plains. The highest point on the Moon is in the Leibniz mountains, which are on the Moon’s south pole, where some peaks reach up to 9000 meters.

Besides mountain ranges, craters or sinkholes  named after famous world scientists are also found on the Moon. Newton’s is the deepest , cca 7250 m. The craters are large in diameter (up to 300 km). Although their edges look steep, they only have a slight inclination. That discovery was made by a German, Joseph Hopmann, who invented special research methods using the length of shadows. Around 30 thousand craters has been discovered on the Moon.  One of them bears the name of our own scientist, Ruđer Bošković.

Earth’s tidal force has slowed down the Moon with time to such extent that its rotation velocity adapted to its time path. This means that the Moon turns only once around its axis during its revolution around the Earth. Due to that, only one side of the Moon can be seen from Earth. In 1959 the ex-Soviet vessel / probe Lunik (Лунник) went round the Moon and took photographs of it from a distance of 60 thousand km with two cameras. Based on the photographs, the Soviet Science Academy compiled and released the first atlas of the Moon’s surface not visible from Earth. The Moon also slows down Earth’s rotation speed, extending Earth’s day for 20 microseconds every year. In so doing Earth’s rotation energy is turned into heat energy and the rotation impulse is transferred to the Moon, which is moving yearly 4 cm farther away. This phenomenon was established by laser measurement in 1995.

Outer Space Treaty forbids countries’ ownership over celestial bodies as the Moon. This UN treaty which came into force on 11 July 1984 applies both to countries and legal persons.  Despite that, in 1980 Dennis M. Hope  reported ownership right over the Moon in the San Francisco land-registry. Since nobody opposed his move in the expanse of eight years (the complaint period), Hope started Lunar Embassy Legal, a law office entitled to sell lots on the Moon. The UN and International Astronomical Union consider his venture a fraud.

Science fiction is a genre of art dealing with various situations of humankind placed in the context of an imagined reality.  Science fiction is occupied with depicting the influence of imagined or predicted advanced sciences and technologies on the society and individuals.  Above all, the term of science fiction is connected to literary, television and film works, with some influence over art and music as well.

The Moon has always been a subject which tickled the imagination, making it frequently present in science fiction. Moreover, George Melies’ “A trip to the Moon” from 1902 is considered to be the first SF film, created only seven years after the Lumiere brothers introduced motion pictures to the world. This made science fiction the first film genre on record.

Numerous SF titles ensued, with Fritz Lang’s cult film from 1927, Metropolis, standing out. However, the real SF explosion happened nearly 40 years after Lang’s hit and it was caused by Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In the aforementioned 40 years the world changed greatly. The Roswell incident caused mass hysteria in 1947, when news headlines horrified the public with the tidings of an extraterrestrial craft’s crash. Soon after, man ventured into space and stepped onto the Moon. Suddenly, the idea of exploring the rest of the galaxy and encountering extraterrestrial beings did not seem as improbable.

The Apollo program, also known as “Project Apollo” is a series of human spaceflights undertaken by the USA between 1961 and 1972 using Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rockets.  The goal of the project was to land people on the Moon  and to ensure their safe return to Earth before the end of the 1960s. It was reached on 11 July 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission. Afterwards, the Apollo program continued for the purpose of exploring the Moon, with 6 successful landings executed. However, in the early 1970s the American public lost interest in the space race and the economic crisis which lead to the cutting of NASA’s budget and shutting the project down. The equipment and the spacecraft were later used in the Skylab program and the American-Soviet project Apollo-Sojuz. Generally, it is considered that the Apollo program represents the pinnacle of space exploration, which is not going to be surpassed so soon, due to a number of political and economical reasons.

The American space agency NASA has announced that in 2020 men will again be sent to the Moon in a spacecraft similar to the 1960s Apollo. Also, by 2040 a permanent international base will have been built on one of the Moon’s poles. Experts think that the best location for the future station is the south pole, because it gets sunlight for three quarters of the time, which is important for solar energy gathering. In addition, there is possibility of ore exploitation on the south pole.

In addition, it should be remembered that the influence of the Moon has been known since ancient times. It is likely that the Moon was the first celestial body noticed or at least more closely known  by humans, because it is closer than the stars. Also, looking at the Moon does not strain the eyes, unlike looking at the Sun. Its influence over the ebb and tide was quickly tied to the flow of bodily fluids. Woman’s fertility cycles are also in congruence with the phases of the Moon. Besides that, many people believe that the best time for planting and sowing is when the Moon is growing.

The symbolism of the Moon is evident in its correlation with the symbolism of the Sun. The two most significant characteristics of their symbolism come out of the facts that the Moon’s light is merely a reflection of sunlight and that the Moon goes through phases and changes shape. This is why the Moon symbolizes dependence and the female principle, periodicity and renewal. Accordingly, it is a symbol of transformation and growth.

The Moon - as a celestial body which grows, reaches its peak, shrinks and disappears, whose life is subordinate to the universal law of evolution, of life and death - is a symbol of biological rhythm. The Moon also symbolizes the passing time, the live time which it measures with its phases which orderly follow each other. As the bringer of water, it is a source and a symbol of fertility. But the Moon also symbolizes dreaming, the unconscious, as night time traits.

The Moon - the 18th Major Arcana card, often interpreted as the decay of spirit into matter, neurastenia, sadness, loneliness, sickness, fanaticism, false security, delusion, taking the wrong way, a theft committed by someone close, work, excruciating search for the truth, disappointment, traps, extortion and waywardness.

The Moon in astrology has a special role - it is a symbol of emotions and instinctive reactions and is indicative of our primary needs and mother relationship. It symbolizes the passive, but fertile principle, night, moisture, subconsciousness, imagination, psyche, female and everything fickle, transient and subject to influence. It is most active during the first three years of life. During this period we absorb everything around us which is why psychologists point out at its importance in a child’s development.

The sign in which the Moon is reveals much about our habits, reactions and instincts. It shows our basic needs and the way we express and deal with our emotions. Since the equivalent to the Sun is the father, and to the Moon the mother, the sign of the Moon also points at the way we “nurse” others and ourselves.

The house of the Moon tells us of the area of life where the characteristics of the Moon’s sign are most conspicuous and intense, as well as of the force and influence of the Moon over our lives in general.

Many astrologists believe that it is more important for a woman to know where her Moon is than where her Sun is for the aforementioned reasons (Moon symbolizing the female and motherhood), but also because women are often more emotional than men (bearing more weight on the characteristics of the Moon sign in interaction with other planets).