Many theories exist as to how the Earth’s moon came to be as it is today, the most prominent being the impact theory. The impact theory states, that about four and half billion years ago the Earth came into contact with an object about the size of mars. The smaller of the two objects began “ejecting raw material that became the moon” (Cox). The young ‘moon’ began orbiting the larger Earth and over time became one of the largest objects in the night sky having a direct impact on human development through climate, civilization development, and cultural references.
Without the moon the Earth would rotate uncontrollably and possible even tilt 90˚ about the axis making one side constantly face the sun causing burning temperatures and the other side to freeze in a near total darkness. Any area in between would suffer from intense storms due to the difference in temperatures and pressure, a little ‘hell on Earth’. But, we have a moon that acts like “an Olympic thrower’ (Bellows) and keeps us locked in our 24 hour days and keeps our 23˚45’ tilt which allows for changes in seasons. The Earth and moon are tidally locked, meaning the moon always faces the Earth on the same side. This is caused by one side of the moon to have a thicker crust making the heavier side always point to the Earth. While the moon is rotating about the Earth it pulls on the oceans causing tides which some theorists (Hamilton) claim allowed for the primordial soup, basis for life (Wu), to be mixed and spread throughout the waters sparking life. The moon may not have only helped start life on Earth but has also helped sustain it by acting as a shield from potentially life threatening impacts from rogue asteroids or comets. Over the last few billion years the moon has been the leading factor in transforming our Earth into a comfortable, habitable, little planet.
Perhaps the ever facing Luna was a guardian watching over early man in the night sky, providing protection from darkness and evil. At least, that’s how man saw the moon originally in the sky. The Greeks called her Artemis, the Goddess of the hunt and sister to Apollo, the God of the Sun (Rose). At night, Artemis would provide enough light for hunters and farmers alike to either track down food for the night or finish a harvest for the tribe. This led many civilizations to develop a Lunar Calendar as their world ‘revolved around the moon’. And this calendar helped determine when the best time was for hunting, farming, and how the tides were going to be. The ancient Sumerians of modern day Iraq had one of the original lunar calendars which led to a system for measuring time which we still use today. Every 27 days, two moon cycles complete which represent a month (Hamilton). About every 12 months the Earth would complete its 4 season cycle. Today, we still use this base 12 system. 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day. Without the influence of the moon this system would not exist as we know it. The lunar calendar may have been used by humans before the Sumerians as artifacts have been found dating to about 25,000 years ago (Robertson). At this time, lunar calendars were carved into mammoth tusks, reindeer bones, etc. In the Shang Dynasty, fourteenth century BCE, lunar calendars were carved into oracle bones. In more recent history the lunar calendar is still used by farmers as the last harvest, the last full moon before Thanksgiving, allowing farmers to have a little more ‘light in the day’ to finish off the growing season of that year.
In modern pop culture, the moon plays another important role, providing the ‘key’ to unlock the beasts and evils and things that go bump in the night, or at least go bump in a fun but cheap B-movies. For example, in Van Helsing, a 2004 film by Stephen Sommers, werewolves only appear during the night of a full moon as the light shows the true side of werewolves and other mythical creatures. Even urban legends stating more crime occurs during a full moon shapes the image of evil being connected with a full moon (Bakich).
Throughout the years, the moon has shaped our lives, be it from producing a climate able to sustain life, influencing early civilized development, and even giving us humorous cult classics to watch every Halloween. So, the next time you see her ever knowing smile in the night sky, be sure to thank her for being there, because without her dependable 4.5 billion years of help, you surely would not be the person you are today.
Works Cited
Bakich, Michael E. More crim occurs at Full Moon. September 2010 .
Bellows, Jason. "Life Without the Moon." 19 February 2008. Damn Interesting . September 2010 .
Cox, Sylvia. Lunar Prospector . 31 August 2001. September 2010 .
Hamilton, Rosanna L. The Moon. 2009. September 2010 .
Robertson, Cheryl. The Moon in Ancient History. 2010. September 2010 .
Van Helsing. Dir. Stephen Sommers. 2004.
Wu, Leiwen. "Primordial Soup Theory." 2000. Tripod. September 2010 .
