CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -BEIJING: China has released a new comprehensive geologic map of the moon, the “most detailed” to date, which is expected to make a vital contribution to scientific research, exploration and landing site selection on the Earth’s only natural satellite.

Detailed explanation-2: -Scientists in China have released a new geologic map of the Moon that is the most detailed yet.

Detailed explanation-3: -Intro. This is the first scientific map of the moon, and was produced in Paris by the famous astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Working in the 1670s, Cassini used a telescope to make careful observations of the moon’s pock-marked surface.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Army Corps of Engineers published the first edition of Mason and Hackman’s four-sheet “Engineer Special Study of the Surface of the Moon” map set in July 1960. The USGS published a second edition with “minor revisions” the following year.

Detailed explanation-5: -Starting about 4.5 billion years ago, the newly formed Moon was in a molten state and was orbiting much closer to Earth resulting in tidal forces. These tidal forces deformed the molten body into an ellipsoid, with the major axis pointed towards Earth.