Luna

Luna is the official name used when referring to Earth's moon. The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. It is the largest natural satellite in the Solar System relative to the size of its planet, a quarter the diameter of Earth and 1/81 its mass, and is the second densest satellite after Io. It is in synchronous rotation with Earth, always showing the same face; the near side is marked with dark volcanic maria among the bright ancient crustal highlands and prominent impact craters. It is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, although its surface is actually very dark, with a similar reflectance to coal. Its prominence in the sky and its regular cycle of phases have since ancient times made the Moon an important cultural influence on language, the calendar, art and mythology. The Moon's gravitational influence produces the ocean tides and the minute lengthening of the day. The Moon's current orbital distance, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth, causes it to be the same size in the sky as the Sun—allowing the Moon to cover the Sun precisely in total solar eclipses.

Points of Interest

 * Clavius Base: Clavius Base was a fictional scientific research outpost presented in the 1968 novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In both the novel and the film adaptation, National Council of Astronautics chairman, Doctor Heywood R. Floyd, traveled to Clavius Base on a top secret mission to investigate the discovery of an ancient, extraterrestrial Monolith that had been found at Tycho crater.


 * Clavius Crater: Clavius is the second largest crater on the visible face of Earth's moon and measures 150 miles in diameter. It is located in the center of the Southern Highlands region.


 * Sea of Tranquility: The Sea of Tranquility is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. The mare material within the basin consists of basalt formed in the intermediate to young age group of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The surrounding mountains are thought to be of the Lower Imbrian epoch, but the actual basin is probably Pre-Nectarian.


 * Tycho Crater: Tycho is a prominent lunar impact crater located in the southern lunar highlands, named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. To the south is the crater Street; to the east is Pictet, and to the north-northeast is Sasserides. The surface around Tycho is replete with craters of various sizes, many overlapping still older craters. Some of the smaller craters are secondary craters formed from larger chunks of ejecta from Tycho. In the novel and film versions of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tycho was the site of a large, alien Monolith, which came to be known as TMA-1.

Films that take place on the Moon

 * 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
 * 2001: A Space Travesty (2000)

Films that feature the Moon
Note: Only include films where the moon has some significance to the story.
 * Moonstruck (1987)