Samajho Learning

CRACK THE CIVIL SERVICES EXAM WITH

OUR STATE-OF-THE-ART PROGRAM

SAMAJHO
MENTORSHIP
PROGRAM
BY ROHIT DAGAR SIR

FEATURES
- SUBJECTWISE PROGRAMS - GUIDANCE BY ROHIT SIR
- VIDEO LECTURES (STATIC + - PRELIMS + MAINS
CURRENT)
- MAINS ANSWER WRITING
- MOCK QUIZ WITH REPORTS PRACTICE
- 18 MONTHS SUBSCRIPTION - & MUCH MORE

STARTING FROM ₹ 1799 ONLY VIEW APP

 About the Earth: Earth’s natural satellite; Our Moon

About the Earth: Earth's natural satellite; Our Moon

The Moon is an astronomical body orbiting Earth and is the planet's only natural satellite.
Its diameter is only one-quarter that of the earth.
The Moon is about 1.25 Light Seconds away from the earth.
The moon is tidally locked to the earth, meaning that the moon revolves around the earth
in about 27 days which is the same time it takes to complete one spin i.e. Moon's orbital
period matches its rotational period.
As a result of tidal locking, only one side of the moon is visible to us on the earth.
The moon is a significant stabilizer of Earth’s orbital axis. Without it, Earth’s tilt could
vary as much as 85 degrees (at present the Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of
23. 5 relative to our orbital plane).

Perigee and Apogee:

As the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the Moon's path around the Earth is elliptical.
The point in the Moon's orbit that is closest to the Earth is called the Perigee and the
point farthest from the Earth is known as the Apogee.
The terms are also sometimes used interchangeably with the Earth's Perihelion and
Aphelion.

Related Concepts:

The solar day (follow the sun):

The solar day is the time it takes for the earth to rotate on its axis and return the sun
to the same spot it was the day before, and it lasts 24 hours before earth reaches the
same spot where it started.
Sidereal day (follow the stars):
The sidereal day is the time it takes for the earth to complete a rotation on its own
axis and return the fixed stars to the same spot it was before.
A sidereal day lasts for 23 hours 56 minutes 4.091 seconds, so the sidereal day is 4
minutes shorter than a solar day.
So, the sidereal day is 4 minutes faster than the usual 24-hour day format. This
means that the same star appears last night will appear 4 minutes earlier every
night.
The Moon's sidereal orbital period (the sidereal month) is ~27.3 days; this is the
time interval that the Moon takes to orbit 360° around the Earth relative to the
"fixed" stars.
Synodic Period:
Measuring the motion of the Moon around the Earth relative to the Sun leads us to
what is called the synodic period.
The synodic period is the time required for a body within the solar system, such as
a planet, the Moon, or an artificial Earth satellite, to return to the same or
approximately the same position relative to the Sun as seen by an observer on the
Earth.
The Moon's synodic period is the time between successive recurrences of the same
phase; e.g. between the full moon and full moon.The Moon takes 29.5 days to
return to the same point on the celestial sphere as referenced to the Sun because of

Samajho
 the motion of the Earth around the Sun; this is called a synodic month (lunar phases
as observed from the Earth are correlated with the synodic month).

Why are the sidereal and synodic lunar months not equal in length?

The sidereal month is the time the Moon takes to complete one full revolution around the
Earth with respect to the background stars. However, because the Earth is constantly moving
along its orbit about the Sun, the Moon must travel slightly more than 360° to get from one
new moon to the next. Thus, the synodic month, or lunar month, is longer than the sidereal
month. A sidereal month lasts 27.322 days, while a synodic month lasts 29.531 days.

What is Eclipse?

An eclipse is the result of either an occultation (completely hidden) or a transit (partially

hidden). The term eclipse is most often used to describe either a solar eclipse when the Moon's
shadow crosses the Earth's surface or a lunar eclipse when the Moon moves into the Earth's
shadow.

Solar Eclipse:

A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that occurs when the moon comes in the way of the
sun’s light. The moon's shadow casts itself on Earth, blocking out the sun's light (as seen
from Earth).
The moon's shadow has two parts: a central region (umbra) and an outer region
(penumbra).
Depending upon which part of the shadow passes over the Earth, one of three types of
solar eclipses could be observed:
1. Total Solar Eclipse-The entire central portion of the sun is blocked out by the
moon.
2. Partial Solar Eclipse-Only part of the sun's surface is blocked out.
3. Annular Solar Eclipse-The sun is covered in such a way that only a small ring-
like sliver of light is seen from the sun's disc. This ring is known as the ring of fire.
An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farthest from Earth.
As the moon is farther away from Earth, it seems smaller and is unable to block the entire
view of the sun, because of which the ring-like structure could be observed.

Why Solar Eclipses Don't Happen Every Month?

Because the moon's orbit wobbles up and down with respect to the Earth, the satellite's shadow
can be too high or too low to cause a solar eclipse.

Samajho
Lunar Eclipse:

Also known as the eclipse of the moon, it occurs when the earth comes in between the
sun and the moon.
As a result, the earth blocks the light of the sun from reaching the moon’s surface and
casts its shadow on the moon.
It occurs on a full moon day. We can observe up to 3 lunar eclipses per year.
Depending on how the sun, the moon, and the earth line up, lunar eclipse too can be
categorized as:
1. Partial: When only a part of the moon moves into the shadow of the earth.
2. Total: When the earth passes directly in front of the moon and casts its shadow on
the full moon.

Phases of moon:

There are 8 phases of the moon-The phases we see the result from the angle the Moon makes
with the Sun as viewed from Earth.

1. Waxing Crescent
2. First Quarter
3. Waxing Gibbous
4. Full Moon

Samajho
 5. Waning Gibbous
6. Last Quarter
7. Waning Crescent
8. New Moon

What are Tides?

The periodical rise and fall of the sea level, once or twice a day, mainly due to the
attraction of the sun and the moon, is called a tide.
Movement of water caused by meteorological effects (winds and atmospheric pressure
changes) are called surges (storm surge during cyclones).
The moon’s gravitational pull to a great extent and to a lesser extent the sun’s
gravitational pull, are the major causes for the occurrence of tides.
Another factor is a centrifugal force that acts opposite to the gravitational pull of the
earth.
Tides occur due to a balance between all these forces.

Types of Tides:

Tides vary in their frequency, direction, and movement from place to place and also from
time to time.
Tides may be grouped into various types based on their frequency of occurrence in one
day or 24 hours or based on their height.

Tides based on Frequency:

Semi-diurnal tide

The most common tidal pattern, featuring two high tides and two low tides each day
[Although it varies between 3 tides to 4 tides; 3 tides in rare cases but 4 is normal].
The successive high or low tides are approximate of the same height.
Although tides occur twice a day, their interval is not exactly 12 hours. Instead, they
occur at regular intervals of 12 hours and 25 minutes.
This is because the moon revolves around the earth from west to east, and each day it
moves a bit to the east if observed from the same place on earth at the same time on two
consecutive days.

Samajho
 This time lag explains the tide interval of 12 hours and- 25 minutes, as tides occur twice a
day.
A place in England- Southampton- experiences tides 6-8 times a day [2 high tides from
North Sea + 2 high tides from English Channel + 2 neap tides from the North Sea + 2
neap tides from the English Channel].
This happens because the North Sea and the English Channel push the water at different
intervals. Southampton - highest number of tides.

Diurnal tide

There is only one high tide and one low tide each day. The successive high and low tides
are approximate of the same height.

Mixed tide

Tides having variations in height are known as mixed tides. These tides generally occur
along the west coast of North America and on many islands of the Pacific Ocean.

Tides based on the Sun, Moon and the Earth Positions:

The height of rising water (high tide) varies appreciably depending upon the position of
sun and moon with respect to the earth. Spring tides and neap tides come under this
category.

Spring tides:

The position of both the sun and the moon in relation to the earth has a direct bearing on
tide height.
When the sun, the moon, and the earth are in a straight line, the height of the tide will be
higher.
These are called spring tides and they occur twice a month, one on full moon period and
another during the new moon period.

Neap tides:

Normally, there is a seven-day interval between the spring tides and neap tides.
At this time the sun and moon are at right angles to each other and the forces of the sun
and moon tend to counteract one another.
The Moon’s attraction, though more than twice as strong as the sun’s, is diminished by
the counteracting force of the sun’s gravitational pull.
Like spring tides, these tides also occur twice a month.

Samajho
Samajho