Panel #1 (Title)
• This is Outer Space Pals #4. In this installment, we show that the Moon does spin.
Panel #2
• If you're like Tara, that is, if you think the Moon doesn't spin as it travels around Earth, you're not alone. Most of the people in the United States think the same thing.
Panel #5
• We start off knowing only one fact: The Moon always keeps the same face toward Earth.
Panel #6
• The diagram in this panel illustrates what we just said in the above sentence.
• It's easy to show how this works. Put a chair in the middle of a room. It's a better demonstration if someone is sitting in it, but an empty chair will show you how this works before you show it to someone else. That chair will represent Earth, and you will be the Moon. Stand a few feet away from it, and face it. Also notice which wall in the room you're facing. Next, orbit halfway around the chair, always keeping your front side toward it, and stop. A quick glance at the room will show that you're now facing the opposite wall. Aha! For this to happen you must have rotated one-half spin. Continue around to your starting point, and you'll see that as you orbited once, you also rotated once. Pretty cool, eh?
• And here's a diagram to help you understand what's going on. If you concentrate on the Moon on the left side, you can see that it's spinning. In fact, like the real Moon, it's spinning once each time it orbits Earth. On the right, you can see what things would look like if the Moon didn't spin. We would see its whole surface as it went around Earth. Thanks to Stigmatella aurantiaca at Wikimedia Commons for the diagram.
Panel #7
• To get across the point that the Moon is spinning, our drawing may make it look like our satellite is turning really fast. It's not. It takes the Moon 27 days 19 hours and 18 minutes to spin just once.
Panel #8
• And as Sunni is saying, the Moon also takes 27 days 19 hours and 18 minutes to revolve (orbit) around Earth once.
• Tara's question is a good one. We'll find out the answer to it in Outer Space Pals #5.
