Monthly Archives: June 2017

Tor Browser 7.0 is released | The Tor Blog

Posted: June 10, 2017 at 6:50 pm

The Tor Browser Team is proud to announce the first stable release in the 7.0 series. This release is available from the Tor Browser Project page and also from our distribution directory.

This release brings us up to date with Firefox 52 ESR which contains progress in a number of areas:

Most notably we hope having Mozilla's multiprocess mode (e10s) and content sandbox enabled will be one of the major new features in the Tor Browser 7.0 series, both security- and performance-wise. While we are still working on the sandboxing part for Windows (the e10s part is ready), both Linux and macOS have e10s and content sandboxing enabled by default in Tor Browser 7.0. In addition to that, Linux and macOS users have the option to further harden their Tor Browser setup by using only Unix Domain sockets for communication with tor. Update (June 8, 8:00 UTC): As the last point caused some confusion: enabling Unix Domain sockets alone does not harden Tor Browser. One needs that *and* additional sandboxing mechanisms that prevent communication over TCP/IP.

The highlights in our tracking and fingerprinting resistance improvements are: cookies, view-source requests and the Permissions API are isolated to the first party URL bar domain now to enhance our tracking related defenses. On the fingerprinting side we disabled and/or patched several new features, among them WebGL2, the WebAudio, Social, SpeechSynthesis, and Touch APIs, and the MediaError.message property.

WIth the switch to ESR 52 come new system requirements for Windows and macOS users: On Windows Tor Browser 7.0 won't run on non-SSE2 capable machines anymore. On Apple computers OS X 10.9 is now the minimum system requirement.

Besides new system requirements for Windows and macOS users, there are some known issues with Tor Browser 7.0 as well:

Apart from switching to the new Firefox ESR and dealing with related issues we included a new Tor stable version (0.3.0.7) and updated our NoScript (5.0.5) and HTTPS-Everywhere versions (5.2.17).

We updated our toolchains during the ESR transition as well. In particular we retired the old GCC-based one for our macOS cross-compilation and rely solely on clang/cctools now.

The full changelog since Tor Browser 6.5.2 is:

Today is 7th of July but I still cannot see new tor version in official tor repository for Debian. Issue with ALSA is very sad, too sad. Pulseaudio, like systemd, are the things which were always avoided on system-critical OSes.

When I open youtube popup says me that I must install pulseaudio to het sound working, button with help redirects me on the page: link. However, there is no this page. You should fix the link.

P.S. Preview in commenting in tor-blog with enabled JS is not working. It doesn't show formatted text, only its source.

Thank guys, great job!

Quite often when I opened Tor Browser, there was a warning sign of a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in the "Open Settings" button on the connecting dialog box. When clicking on that, it showed a "Copy to clipboard" button.

May anyone tell me a little bit about this warning? I'm wondering if my connection was compromised and no longer anonymous in these cases. This time, for example, the content I got from the "Copy to clipboard" was:

06/07/2017 12:58:58.500 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 5%: Connecting to directory server 06/07/2017 12:58:58.500 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 10%: Finishing handshake with directory server 06/07/2017 12:58:59.200 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 68.45.52.117:40365 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 12:59:00.100 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 15%: Establishing an encrypted directory connection 06/07/2017 12:59:00.100 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 68.45.52.117:40365 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 12:59:00.300 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 20%: Asking for networkstatus consensus 06/07/2017 12:59:01.200 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 25%: Loading networkstatus consensus 06/07/2017 12:59:08.900 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 80%: Connecting to the Tor network 06/07/2017 12:59:08.900 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 90%: Establishing a Tor circuit 06/07/2017 12:59:10.100 [NOTICE] Tor has successfully opened a circuit. Looks like client functionality is working. 06/07/2017 12:59:10.100 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 100%: Done 06/07/2017 12:59:11.600 [NOTICE] New control connection opened from 127.0.0.1. 06/07/2017 12:59:11.700 [NOTICE] New control connection opened from 127.0.0.1. 06/07/2017 13:00:18.400 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 178.62.29.226:9443 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 13:00:19.700 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 178.62.29.226:9443 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 13:00:19.800 [NOTICE] new bridge descriptor 'Unnamed' (fresh): $958ACD25DACDDE1CF6FE463FBFA28BFEB8BFF82B~Unnamed at 194.132.209.61 06/07/2017 13:01:06.100 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 108.61.191.37:9443 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 13:01:06.100 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 5.35.86.79:39563 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 13:01:06.100 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 35.185.60.254:9443 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 13:01:06.100 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 139.59.147.112:36715 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 13:01:06.100 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 104.153.209.217:25447 ("general SOCKS server failure") 06/07/2017 13:01:06.100 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to 185.163.45.19:57339 ("general SOCKS server failure")

If you are using Add-ons with filter lists in Tor Browser 7.0, for example uBlock Origin, Adblock Plus etc. ,it takes extremely long to start the browser In Tor Browser 6.5 and previous this was not really an issue. It was only a small delay barely noticeable. This problem is new to version 7.0. I hope you can look into that.

How to reproduce: - Use a newely installed Tor Browser v. 7.0 - Install uBlock Origin - See how the browser will freeze for some seconds. - Restart the Browser and see how it will take extremely long to startup

I'm still hoping for 64-bit versions of Tor and the Tor Browser for Windows; maybe they'll show up alongside the ESR59-based Tor Browser, because Firefox 53+ no longer supports Vista, and most installations of Windows 7+ are 64-bit, so they will be able to benefit from 64-bit software.

my system is not supported.. meanwhile what can I do? updating only TOR instead of tor browser, but how do it? help please 😀

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Tor Browser 7.0 works harder to protect your anonymity on its own – Engadget

Posted: at 6:50 pm

The college philosophy class you barely remember aside, what the sandbox does is hides your files, your real IP address and your MAC address from the browser. Therefore, "the amount of information Tor Browser will learn about your computer, and thereby you, will be limited," Angel said.

At the time of that interview last October, the sandbox was still unstable and very much in testing, but the recent update has brought the digital safe-zone online for Linux and macOS, and by default. Next up? Sandbox protection for Windows users.

The update also imposes a few new requirements for users on Windows and macOS: Tor apparently won't work on non-SSE2-capable Windows hardware and you need to be running OSX 10.9 or higher on Apple machines.

Considering that last year a federal judge said that the FBI no longer needs warrants to hack a computer connected to the internet, this is an important update. "Even an internet user who employs the Tor network in an attempt to mask his or her IP address lacks a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her IP address," judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr commented at the time. For the full rundown of what's changed with the browser, hit the source links below.

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Top 5 Alternative Cryptocurrencies on the Rise – The Merkle

Posted: at 6:50 pm

In the world of alternative cryptocurrencies, it is very important to keep a diversified portfolio. Not every coin going up in value has a legitimate use case, and there are quite a few pump-and-dump schemes to be wary of. However, some altcoins are getting a lot of positive attention due to the developers putting in a lot of hard work. Below are some coins which have recently achieved major technological breakthroughs, and are now seeing their value rise as a result.

Although a lot of people have seemingly forgotten about BlackCoin, the cryptocurrency is still around. One of the main areas of focus for this project has always been to find ways to improve the proof-of-stake protocol. In a recent update, the BlackCoin developers have unveiled their Blackcoin Lore launch, which is a solution paving the way for smart contract potential.

Moreover, this new milestone will also make BlackCoin the first proof-of-stake digital currency to implement key components from Bitcoin Core 0.12. More importantly, this update paves the way for smart contracts on the BlackCoin blockchain moving forward. It will be interesting to see when this dream will be realized, but it is definitely something to look forward to. Additionally,the update allows BlackCoin to benefit from projects such as Blockstack and Joinmarket.

A lot of people were caught by surprise when the value of Maidsafecoin suddenly started to explode a few days ago. It seems the most recent development update has something to do with the price momentum, even though none of the updates are major. All of this goes to show the Maidsafe concept is inching closer toward finalization, which is good news for anyone looking into using a decentralized internet.

It has to be said, the Stratis value has been a bit of a rollercoaster these past few weeks. With the value surging non-stop for nearly a week, it almost started to look like a pump. However, the value corrected quickly and is now seemingly stable around the US$9 mark. A new wallet update was released not too long ago, and it looks like developers are making good progress on the Breeze Wallet too. Moreover, it has been confirmed one can effectively mine PoS blocks inside the Breeze Wallet, which is a major development.

Siacoin has been of great interest to cryptocurrency users and speculators over the past few weeks. The world of decentralized file storage solutions is getting a lot more interesting, to say the least. A lot of users are experimenting with these solutions as a way to earn Siacoin for sharing excess hard disk space with people looking for storage solutions. Sia is one of the projects getting very close to providing actual decentralized file storage solutions to the masses. It is only natural the price of this native token goes up as well.

Although a lot of people would rather not think of Ethereum as an alternative cryptocurrency, it still fits into this category. That being said, the recent value increase of Ether has been nothing short of amazing. The value per ETH surpassed US$365 and seems to maintain that value with relative ease. However, there is still a question of how much of this price point is due to speculation, rather than actual value. For a cryptocurrency ecosystem with no supply cap, some people feel Ether is incredibly overvalued. Then again, the token is necessary for people looking to buy into most cryptocurrency ICOs.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Malaysian Security Expert Warns Bitcoin Users Against Cyber Attacks – newsBTC

Posted: at 6:49 pm

Concerned by rapid developments in quantum computing, a Malaysian network security expert has requested Bitcoin users to exercise caution. Read more...

Bitcoin users are warned well in advance against the threat posed by quantum computers. A well-known Malaysian cybersecurity expert and associate professor, Dr. Zuriati Ahmad Zukarnain recently explained about the developments in computing technology and its implications on cryptocurrencies in their current form.

Dr. Zukarnain, while speaking to a reporter from one of the Malaysian news publication stated that the rapid developments in quantum computing have now made it possible for hackers to compromise the private keys associated with Bitcoin wallet addresses. She said,

Quantum computers are able to create a large factorization and can detect the public and private keys used in Bitcoin transactions The threat is when the private key is sniffed by third parties, they are free to make transactions using a hacked account as the private key proves the ownership of a Bitcoin address used to send and receive the currency.

The professor, referring to certain studies, mentioned the growing usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Malaysia which, in the case of an attack might cause significant losses to many people in the country. Recently, the Russian Quantum Centre announced a successful trial of quantum proof blockchain solution for banking sector which they managed by coupling Quantum Key Distribution and post-quantum cryptography into the distributed ledger.

The Russian Quantum Centre intends to expand the deployment of its latest quantum proof blockchain solutions to various banking institutions across the country and eventually across the world. The warning against the threat of quantum computers comes well in advance, much before the computers could become readily available.

The threat must be taken seriously by the cryptocurrency community, and it will be better if the developers start working on blockchain upgrades for the respective currencies from now itself so that they are not caught by surprise when the problem becomes serious.

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LOOK UP! The International Space Station flies over Asheville Friday night – WLOS

Posted: at 6:49 pm

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth, and it's visible when it flies over Asheville, if you know where and when to look. (Photo credit: MGN)

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth, and it's visible when it flies over Asheville, if you know where and when to look.

At 10:42 p.m. on Friday, June 9, 2017 the ISS will fly over Asheville and be visible as it crosses overhead, but only for only a minute. (If you're seeing this story ahead of the flyover, a good way to remember to watch the ISS is to set an alarm on your cell phone.)

If skies are clear in your area, look northwest and wait for the ISS to become visible over the horizon. It will look like a bright, fast-moving star, and will travel overhead and move out of sight into the north-northeast.

The ISS travels at about 17,150 mph if you can believe that, and you can view how many people are aboard it right here.

You can track where the ISS is here. There's even a livecam on the ISS, and you can see what the international astronauts are seeing here.

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Great View of the Intl. Space Station – WOODTV.com (blog)

Posted: at 6:49 pm

There are many views of the International Space Station here in early June. Heres the complete schedule here. Tonights flyover really stands out. Its at 9:49 pm. Well still be in twilight. The space station appears halfway up from the horizon to the northwest and moves DIRECTLY OVERHEAD (89 degrees). Itll be visible until it moves into the Earths shadow at 11 degrees off the SE horizon four minutes later. Heres a link to a map that shows where the space station is right now (takes a little while to open the page). Heres another tracking map with the position of the sun. The Space Station circles the globe about every 93 minutes. Its about the size of a football field and flies about 220 miles above the ground, about the distance between Grand Rapids and Indianapolis. Check out http://www.spaceweather.com for details on auroras, the number of sunspots, asteroid approaches and more. Sky and Telescopes Sky at a Glance will show you the current position of the moon and planets. You can also get the latest on West Michigan astronomical events from the Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Assn. Thanks to Steve Schrier for finding these very cool high res. pics. of Planet Earth.

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From drugs to fruit flies: What SpaceX took to the International Space Station – GeekWire

Posted: at 6:49 pm

SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket during the CRS-11 resupply mission on June 3. (SpaceX Photo)

SpaceX impressed the world yet again last week with a flawless ground landing of the Falcon 9 rocket and the fact that it became the first commercial space company to send a vehicle, the Dragon cargo capsule, into orbit twice.

Dragon delivered 6,000 pounds of cargo on its CRS-11 resupply mission to give the astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) a refresh of supplies in addition to some equipment for scientific research. Here is some of the cargo SpaceX delivered:

1. A bone-rebuilding drug

A common side effect of spending time in space is an osteoporosis diagnosis the weakening of the bones. NASA researchers dont know why, but the phenomenon has been found in both humans and animals in microgravity.

While the astronauts do take measures to prevent bone density loss like exercising for hours a day and taking dietary supplements, there is no known way to get bone density back after its gone.

The Systemic Therapy of NELL-1 for osteoporosis (Rodent Research-5)investigation builds on previous research testing a drug that not only prevents bone loss, but rebuilds it, too. Researchers hope the drug could help millions of people on Earth who suffer from osteoporosis.

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) is expected to be fired up on the ISS June 14 to study the composition of neutron stars.

According to Johnson Space Center in a statement, neutron stars are the densest objects in the universe, and contain exotic states of matter that are impossible to replicate in any ground lab. Theyre left behind after a star explodes as a supernova. They emit X-rays that NICER can observe and record.

The Fruit Fly Lab-02 flew to the space station to understand why microgravity causes changes in the heart. According to the statement, reduced gravity can cause changes in heartbeat, total blood volume and lower aerobic capacity.

The fruit flies make good test subjects because they age quickly and have well-understood genetics. Researchers want to use the experiment to make a microgravity heart model to advance further cardiovascular studies and help prevent adverse heart effects from happening in the future.

This new solar panel concept could give power to thrusters on NASA spacecraft headed near the moon or even to Mars.

Traditionally, solar panels are tucked away for launch and unfolded in orbit. The ROSA solar panels are less rigid, roll out like a tape measure and are much lighter and more compact.

In the future, this technology could give more power to commercial communication satellites orbiting Earth, NASA said.

Dragon will leave the ISS and splash back down to Earth in July and return some crew supplies and thousands of pounds worth of experiments.

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Chinese Experiment Reaches Space Station in Historic First – Space.com

Posted: at 6:49 pm

SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft is pictured in the grips of the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm on June 5, 2017. A Chinese DNA experiment rode to the station aboard the Dragon.

A Chinese experiment is now on the International Space Station (ISS), having reached the orbiting lab Monday (June 5) aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft.

NanoRacks, a Houston-based company that helps other companies and institutions make use of the ISS, worked with the Beijing Institute of Technology to fly Chinese DNA research to the orbiting outpost.

No commercial Chinese payload had ever flown to the orbiting lab before.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday (June 4) that the 8-lb. (3.5 kilograms) experiment is designed to answer questions such as: Do "space radiation and microgravity cause mutations among antibody-encoding genes, and how does it happen?"

The experiment will be installed on the U.S. side of the ISS. Xinhua noted that astronauts there will conduct studies using the device in about two weeks, and data from their studies will be sent back to the Chinese researchers on Earth.

"There is a U.S. law in place, known as the Wolf amendment, that bans cooperation between the U.S. space agency NASA and Chinese government entities, but this [DNA experiment] deal is purely commercial and therefore considered legal," Xinhua said.

Deng Yulin, who is leading the Chinese research, said that this is the first time an ISS experiment has been independently designed and fabricated in China.

"This cooperation does not violate any laws and regulations, including the Wolf amendment. We do it in an open and visible way," Deng told Xinhua. "This is a new model of cooperation that we can follow in the future."

"We were careful to honor not only the Wolf Amendment, but [also] the spirit of the concerns of some towards working with the Chinese," NanoRacks CEO Jeff Manber told Inside Outer Space. "But via the commercial pathway, we are able to craft a world-class research project that demonstrates the leadership of NASA and the space station in low-Earth orbit."

Manber said he was pleased to have this first commercial project from China underway and that he "looks forward to carefully building a program that enhances the commercial competitiveness of American companies in space. I also look forward to one day soon working on board the Chinese space station," he added.

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series "Mars." A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of this story was posted on Space.com.

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IKEA engineers are pretending to live on Mars to help them design better furniture – Popular Science

Posted: at 6:48 pm

At face value, it sounds delightfully goofyand totally useless: Swedish furniture company IKEA, known for creating impossibly cheap (and often incredibly chic) flat-pack furniture, has sent several of its engineers to live in a Mars simulation. Yes, the brave men and women who designed your beloved EKTORP sofa and GJRA bed frame are hanging out at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, playing at space colonization.

Its a crazy, fun experience. Were basically completely isolated for three days to get a taste of what astronauts go through for three years," IKEA Creative Leader Michael Nikolic said in a statement.

"What does comfort mean for compact living? How do we feel in small spaces? This year IKEA is digging a bit deeper," the press release says, as if the next logical step after "Scandinavian apartment" is "tiny dome on a desolate alien world".

But the exercise, which IKEA announced this week at its annual Democratic Design Day event in lmhult, isn't just about helping NASA create cozier space habitatsthough WIRED reports that the team is hopeful they'll be able to come up with some interesting ideas in collaboration with Lund University, which in turn does work with NASA.

The primary goal is actually to use the extreme conditions of a Mars simulationimpersonal design, cramped quarters, space toiletsto come up with design solutions that will work even better on Earth.

IKEA engineers aren't the only folks thinking this way. In May, former PopSci intern Eleanor Cummins reported on farmers who hoped that in learning to grow food on spaceships and alien planetsa sexy avenue of research, to be surescientists might actually learn how to do things that are more immediately useful, like farm more efficiently in drought-stricken regions and get more nutritional bang for our energy buck. Designing with space in mind can help scientists and engineers think outside of the box, but given the fact that we don't even have a Mars mission on the books yetlet alone viable plans to colonize the planetit's great news if we can reap the rewards on Earth, too (whether those rewards are super-efficient farms or adorable modular furniture pieces).

If IKEA can design a clothing storage system that works well inside a Martian habitat, it can certainly design a clothing system that works well inside your horrible apartment in Brooklyn. And by gosh, that's what IKEA is going to do: In 2019, they plan to release a collection of 30 or so items inspired by space (reader, I'm buying it all).

I think that the essence of this collection will be about appreciating what we have on Earth: human beings, plants clean water and air," Nikolic said. "But also diversity and a sense of belongingthings that we take for granted on a daily basis. After this journey, itll probably feel pretty awesome to come home to my own bed."

As far as gimmicky PR moves go, a flat-pack mission to Mars isn't bad. But the exercise also serves as an important reminder of the design challenges we'll face in the coming century: as Earth gets more crowdedand less comfortablewe're going to entertain the thought of packing up and leaving more and more. But like IKEA's intrepid team of engineers, as we figure out ingenious ways to live off-world, we should remember to apply the same spirit of innovation to efforts to make our own planet a comfier place.

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Moon: About the Moon

Posted: at 6:48 pm

Quick Facts

More Stats >

Earth's only natural satellite is simply called "the moon" because people didn't know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.

Size and Distance

With a radius of 1,079.6 miles (1,737.5 kilometers), the moon is less than a third the width of Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, the moon would be about as big as a coffee bean.

The moon is farther away from Earth than most people realize. The moon is an average of 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away. That means 30 Earth-sized planets could fit in between Earth and the moon.

The moon is slowly moving away from Earth, getting about an inch farther away each year.

Orbit and Rotation

The moon is rotating at the same rate that it revolves around Earth (called synchronous rotation), so the same hemisphere faces Earth all the time. Some people call the far side the hemisphere we never see from Earth the "dark side," but that's misleading. As the moon orbits Earth, different parts are in sunlight or darkness at different times. The changing illumination is why, from our perspective, the moon goes through phases. During a "full moon," the hemisphere of the moon we can see from Earth is fully illuminated by the sun. And a "new moon" occurs when the far side of the moon has full sunlight, and the side facing us is having its night.

The moon makes a complete orbit around Earth in 27 Earth days and rotates or spins at that same rate, or in that same amount of time. Because Earth is moving as well rotating on its axis as it orbits the sun from our perspective, the moon appears to orbit us every 29 days.

Formation

The leading theory of the moon's origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The resulting debris from both Earth and the impactor accumulated to form our natural satellite 239,000 miles (384,000 kilometers) away. The newly formed moon was in a molten state, but within about 100 million years, most of the global "magma ocean" had crystallized, with less-dense rocks floating upward and eventually forming the lunar crust.

Structure

Earth's moon has a core, mantle and crust.

The moons core is proportionally smaller than other terrestrial bodies' cores. The solid, iron-rich inner core is 149 miles (240 kilometers) in radius. It is surrounded by a liquid iron shell 56 miles (90 kilometers) thick. A partially molten layer with a thickness of 93 miles (150 kilometers) surrounds the iron core.

The mantle extends from the top of the partially molten layer to the bottom of the moons crust. It is most likely made of minerals like olivine and pyroxene, which are made up of magnesium, iron, silicon and oxygen atoms.

The crust has a thickness of about 43 miles (70 kilometers) on the moons near-side hemisphere and 93 miles (150 kilometers) on the far-side. It is made of oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium and aluminum, with small amounts of titanium, uranium, thorium, potassium and hydrogen.

Long ago the moon had active volcanoes, but today they are all dormant and have not erupted for millions of years.

Surface

With too sparse an atmosphere to impede impacts, a steady rain of asteroids, meteoroids and comets strikes the surface of the moon, leaving numerous craters behind. Tycho Crater is more than 52 miles (85 kilometers) wide.

Over billions of years, these impacts have ground up the surface of the moon into fragments ranging from huge boulders to powder. Nearly the entire moon is covered by a rubble pile of charcoal-gray, powdery dust and rocky debris called the lunar regolith. Beneath is a region of fractured bedrock referred to as the megaregolith.

The light areas of the moon are known as the highlands. The dark features, called maria (Latin for seas), are impact basins that were filled with lava between 4.2 and 1.2 billion years ago. These light and dark areas represent rocks of different composition and ages, which provide evidence for how the early crust may have crystallized from a lunar magma ocean. The craters themselves, which have been preserved for billions of years, provide an impact history for the moon and other bodies in the inner solar system.

If you looked in the right places on the moon, you would find pieces of equipment, American flags, and even a camera left behind by astronauts. While you were there, you'd notice that the gravity on the surface of the moon is one-sixth of Earth's, which is why in footage of moonwalks, astronauts appear to almost bounce across the surface.

The temperature reaches about 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 degrees Celsius) when in full sun, but in darkness, the temperatures plummets to about -280 degrees Fahrenheit (-173 degrees Celsius).

Atmosphere

The moon has a very thin and weak atmosphere, called an exosphere. It does not provide any protection from the sun's radiation or impacts from meteoroids.

Potential for Life

The many missions that have explored the moon have found no evidence to suggest it has its own living things. However, the moon could be the site of future colonization by humans, though there are no immediate plans to do so.

Moons

Earth's moon has no moons of its own.

Rings

The moon has no rings.

Magnetosphere

The early moon may have developed an internal dynamo, the mechanism for generating global magnetic fields for terrestrial planets, but today, the moon has a very weak magnetic field. The magnetic field here on Earth is many thousands of times stronger than the moon's magnetic field.

Exploration

Human beings have studied the moon for millennia, watching its phases change and observing eclipses both solar and lunar. During a solar eclipse, our moon moves between Earth and the sun and blocks the sunlight. In a lunar eclipse, Earth blocks the sun's light that normally lights up the moon, so we see Earths shadow over the face of the moon. From Earth, we see the moon get dark and often turn red. This happens because Earth's atmosphere scatters blue and green light while it bends yellow, orange and red wavelengths toward the moon.

The moon is the most explored body in our solar system besides Earth, having been visited by numerous spacecraft from multiple space agencies around the world. It's also the only place besides Earth where human beings have set foot.

Significant Dates:

Pop Culture

Our lunar neighbor has inspired stories since the first humans looked up at the sky and saw its grey, cratered face. Some observers saw among the craters the shape of a person's face, so stories refer to a mysterious "man in the moon." Hungrier observers compared its craters to cheese and dreamed of an entire sphere made of delicious dairy products.

The moon made its film debut in a 1902 black and white silent French film called Le Voyage Dans la Lune (a trip to the moon). And a year before astronauts walked on the moon, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) told the story of astronauts on an outpost on the moon. Decades later, it is still widely regarded as the best science fiction movie ever made.

In reality, while we do not yet have a moon colony, spacecraft have left lots of debris on the lunar surface, and astronauts have planted six American flags on the moon. But that doesn't mean the United States has claimed it; in fact, an international law written in 1967 prevents any single nation from owning planets, stars, or any other natural objects in space.

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