The geology of the moon has been a primary interest for scientist of all kinds: astronomers, philosophers, mathematicians and geologists all share a common interest in the wonders of our moon. Since the beginning of time we have been gazing up at the moon in awe. Even back in times when many of the astronomical beliefs were based on mythology. When people thought that the sky and all of it's inhabitants was the home to Gods and Spirits. It was not until more recently, with the advances in technology, that we began to understand the sky and specifically the moon, more realistically. .
The moon is between 4.6 and 3.1 Billion years old, which means it's creation was around 4 billion B.C. There was much controversy over the creation of the moon, until the Apollo 11 landing on July 20th,1969. Shortly after, a theory was formed that was widely accepted. The invention of "The Big Splat Theory," was based on the idea that the moon came to creation when the planet Theia collided into Earth and liquefied both planets. Theia was destroyed and the Earth's surface changed, halting a large piece of magma into space. The magma absorbed the other orbiting debris from the collision and under gravity formed our Moon (Wylie, 2003). .
The moon is approximately 327,000 miles from Earth. They rotate in a synchronized pattern, which causes the same side of the moon to always face the Earth. The moon's orbital speed is 3,680 kilometers per hour. The time patterns of the moon are fairly similar to that of the Earths. The length of the moon's day is 27.3 earth hours, the month is 29.5 earth days, and the moon's year is exactly one earth year. (Moonpeople.com, 2003) .
Beginning in 1945, when "R.H Dicke detected thermal radiation emission from the moon at radio wave lengths" (Moonpeople.com, 2003) scientists began collecting data from the moon through different means of discovery. In the early 60s we began to launch space missions to the moon, so that we could learn more about it's nature and geology.