50 years after the moon landing: what do we really know about the moon?

[Music] [Music] all the people back on earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light thank God for the light they was good and God divided the light from the darkness [Music] damn God called the light day and the darkness he called night and evening and the morning were the first day [Music] those first small steps on the moon changed the way we look at Earth as he watched the earth rise astronaut Bill Anders marveled at the irony of their traveling all the way to the moon only to realize that earth was their biggest discovery little did he know how true that was on the moon the space heroes found priceless objects a four billion year old treasure trove containing clues to the beginning of an amazing story our story these fragments were brought back from the moon by the early astronauts to scientists amazement the moon rocks turned out to contain bits of the earth [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] over 4 billion years ago when the Sun was young it was all rooted by a planet known as fear fear might have gone on revolving around the Sun indefinitely had it not encountered earth [Music] if their courses had been altered by a few hundred meters a few degrees history would have been completely different in fact there might never have been such a thing as history when the two planets collided Thea tore off part of the fledgling Earth's mantle the resulting debris formed a ring which subsequently coalesced to become the moon the rocks the astronauts brought back were a blend of matter from the two planets earth contains part of the moon and the moon contains part of Earth earth and the moon are Blood Brothers twin planets whose destinies are inextricably linked [Music] the story of the moon is interwoven with the story of life on Earth a miraculous speck in the vastness of the universe the four-man ever looked at the moon in fact before life even began the newly formed moon was very close to Earth it caused huge volumes of water to rise and fall each day it's colossal force of attraction distorted the primeval ocean creating monstrous swelling and gigantic tides that drenched the basalt coasts large-scale ocean movements generate atmospheric currents the hugely powerful primeval ocean currents wreaked havoc with the climate [Music] incessant hurricanes swept the lifeless glow [Music] the moon clutched the earth to its bosom and the pair of them world in a frantic dance time itself was different days lasted for only ten hours five hours of daylight and five of darkness years were over 900 days long [Music] no one knows exactly when the first blobs of life were made or how complex molecules first appeared but we do know that life began in the water that it emerged during the deluge created by the moon just over three and a half billion years ago life was only just beginning to star in the oceans when the moon underwent a metamorphosis volcanic eruptions and hails of meteorites gave it a new face [Music] by sheer chance the craters and lava flows on the moon's surface have sketched two lovers kissing [Music] over time the whirling dance slowed to a stately wants the moon still rotated on its axis while orbiting the earth but more calmly now the earth and the moon were ready to nurture the new life starring in the wound of the ocean once a year during a single night corals spawn by the light of the full moon the moon lets them know when it is time [Music] many animal species mate on one specific day of the year their breeding cycles are regulated by the moon the powerful spring tides scatter the fishes eggs increasing their offsprings chances of eluding predators [Music] other species time their long cross ocean migrations to take advantage of these breeding periods ultimately the entire life of the deep is governed by the lunar calendar [Music] over three billion years life evolved into more complex forms while remaining in the water it developed from minuscule microorganisms into gigantic sea monsters without ever leaving the ocean until the moment when pioneer species ventured onto land horseshoe crabs were in the vanguard they were one of the first species to emerge from the water the crabs looked on as dinosaurs and giant insects armed with spikes pincers spines and terrible jaws conquered the virgin territory of the land [Music] they chose the huge tines of the spring equinox to come to lay their eggs on the empty beaches as far as possible from the dangers of the sea [Music] [Music] 500 million years ago the ebb and flow of the tides provided a transitional zone alternately under water and exposed to the air and that allowed these first settlers to adjust to life on land [Music] flawless design is probably the key to their extraordinary longevity as a species the constantine has always been their regular as clockwork the horseshoe crabs have always gathered on the beaches at the same time of year [Music] for 500 million years they have been doing the same thing burying their eggs just beneath the surface of sand [Music] the horseshoe crabs regular rendezvous has played a vital part in the development of one of the world's longest migrations from one end of the earth to the other [Music] after a ten thousand kilometer flight thousands of sandpipers alight on the beaches of the North Atlantic they depend for their survival on the eggs of the horseshoe crabs a feast that has been there for the taking for millions of years at a set date in the lunar calendar [Music] the birds only stop for a few days just long enough to cram their bellies with horseshoe crab caviar before taking off again to fly six thousand kilometers further north [Music] the moon acts as a metronome for the terrestrial clock setting the pace for all living species on land and in the oceans this gigantic clock is so reliable that over time it has determined the laws of nature the single white eye of the moon had guided the footsteps of evolution the moon was now about to witness the birth of a new era [Music] [Applause] [Music] just over three million years ago in Africa cousins of the great apes began to walk upright our ancestors set foot on the earth and contemplated the moon a light you could gaze at without burning your eyes the moon enabled us to grope towards an understanding of the natural order its light contained hugely important messages the moon was a natural ally whose light had the power to banish night terrors mankind has never had the ability to see in the dark so understanding the moon and its changing phases helped people anticipate nocturnal dangers a fully grown male lion represents 200 kilograms of brute strength for a long time Lions represented the biggest threat to humans and other animals they are opportunistic predators who can hunt at any time of day but they prefer to do so by night like all felines they can see in the dark so the light of the full moon is no friend to the king of beasts [Music] but the big cats know the ways of the lunar clock they are well aware that the nights just after full moon will offer an ideal opportunity for hunting the moon will rise late and when the Sun sinks below the horizon pitch-dark will follow for the first few hours of the night the Lions hunting ground will be plunged in pitch darkness this is the time when the peoples of the day overlap with the nighttime folk the most dangerous time for stragglers [Music] those who can see in the dark now reigns supreme over the daytime species as they blunder about in the darkness the reft of the light of the moon [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Lions have fine-tuned their hunting calendar to fit in with the phases of the Moon for thousands of years the early part of the nights just after a full moon has allowed them to Massacre their prey implacably regular signaling the eternal cycle of life and death the full moon conjures up our most ancient fears it has become a harbinger of night terrors symbolizing our fear of the dark [Music] with each night that passes the moon rises a little later its light grows weak as if it were being consumed by a disease gradually it fades then disappears swallowed up by the darkness for three long nights there is no moon and the natural world is plunged into obscurity [Music] the nightmare only ends with daybreak when there is no moon the Sun is the only comfort until one evening a slender bow of light like the outline of a smile against the sunset heralds the return of moonlit nights by watching and waiting for the crescent moon to appear our ancestors learned that the moon had an amazing power a power that must have seemed nothing short of miraculous the moon has the extraordinary power of rebirth it can return from the darkness this supernatural ability to regenerate and begin its cycle all over again made a deep impression on human beings down the ages it inspired one of the oldest tales ever told about the moon [Music] the moon contains a picture other hair legend has it that the hair was sent down to earth by an immortal goddess with an important message [Music] tell human beings that they were created in my image and that their lives are like mine [Music] when they come into the world they are as frail as a thin new moon but they soon grow when they reach maturity they shine like the full moon [Music] then the second half of their lives begins they gradually weakened and their strength begins to wane until one day they disappear as I do when the new moon comes [Music] but that is not the end of the story the most important part is yet to come death is only a passing phase like me after three days they will be reborn there is another life after death they must never forget [Music] and they never will but the moon was to reveal to mankind that it had other powers no less extraordinary than its ability to return from the dead powers that were to change the course of history humans were soon to realize that as well as offering a light in the darkness and the hope of resurrection the moon's recurring cycle could give them the power to count the days just over 29 days the moon takes 29 and a half days to complete its cycle and return to its starting point [Music] by Counting boobs you could count months so months were known as months how many moons before the day would start to lengthen and the Sun begin to warm the frozen earth in what moon with the first bud appear on the trees or the first fruits and berries ripen in the forests mankind was about to work out that nature like the moon has cycles and is reborn over and over again human beings began to understand the ever recurring cycle of the seasons people were now able to predict the future that enabled them to develop the amazing skill of producing crops from the land the transition from hunting and gathering to farming was a crucial stage but it involved traumatic changes famines resulting from crop failures could have terrible consequences populations were utterly dependent on good harvests so it was vital to build up food stocks therefore to mitigate natural disasters and try and cooperate with the sacred elements humans put their trust in a Supreme Being a higher force that was thought to govern world order and had the power to return from the dead a second entity that determined the seasons and heralded the rebirth of nature and life itself the moon in 3000 BC at the zenith of one of mesopotamias greatest cities the moon God reigned supreme venerated as father to the Sun and the stars the temple of sin the moon-god has stood in the heart of the city of earth for five thousand years sin was the most powerful of the gods was the place where the moon God was born and Sean most brightly it was also the place where his light was extinguished forever this house in the shadow of the temple is thought to be the birthplace of a man who had a lasting impact on the way people saw the moon the man who was born here 4,000 years ago was called Abraham [Music] the Bible tells that he set out from the temple of earth abandoning his pagan beliefs to find the land of Canaan beyond the desert [Music] the moon the Sun and the stars were no longer to be worshiped as gods in their stead people were to worship one God who created everything in the universe [Music] Abraham left her to found a monotheistic religion the new religion forbade people to believe in the stars men and women were burned alive or stoned to death for continuing to view the pagan moon as a queen with magical powers Jews Christians and Muslims look at the ground or at the scriptures when they pray they have all had to turn their backs on the moon but in their innermost beings people still saw the moon as a wondrous sign a promise that delayed their deepest fears they still believed in the old tales they remembered that the moon was the first thing they saw come back to life it continued to symbolize the hope of life after death [Music] [Applause] [Music] even today the entire Muslim calendar is calculated according to lunar cycles each month begins when a man of faith first sees the crescent moon in the sky [Music] [Music] the date of the Christian festival of Easter is also based on the phases of the Moon on Easter Sunday over two billion Christians celebrate Christ's resurrection Christ rose again three days after his death like the moon we are eternally connected with the moon not only on account of its promise of resurrection but because it measures the passage of time its ticking clock takes us a little closer with each second each day each month that passes to an end that remains a mystery [Music] [Music] [Music] while moon cults were replaced by new religions scientists remained fascinated by the heavens philosophers mathematicians and astronomers continued to worship the pagan moon to try and fathom its secrets they used all kinds of tools and theories to try and understand how it worked one particular invention marked a crucial turning point in the history of science [Music] around 400 years ago an instrument was invented that could magnify objects and increase the amount of light they gave off [Music] it was called the refracting telescope and contains a moon shaped glass lens at last for the first time it was possible to take a closer look at the moon the scientists saw mountains cliffs canyons the light and dark patches which correspond to the moon's contours gave rise to much conjecture might they be forests oceans living creatures when the scientists look through their telescopes they saw their dreams [Music] it had long been understood that the moon was a spherical body like the earth as it were another world so everyone wanted to know what there was on the moon it had fired people's imaginations for so long that the advent of the telescope sparked an explosion of desires and fantasies the moon had to become the promontory of dreams [Music] some were convinced that because of the lack of gravity there were giant trees on the moon that grew in a day [Applause] and died the same evening [Music] but above all people were eager to make the acquaintance of the moon people the first extraterrestrials ever imagined whom they called the Selenites [Music] in the words of Johann Kepler one of the greatest astronomers of the Renaissance they were described like this the inhabitants of the moon shelter in grottoes and caverns to avoid the alternating cold and extreme heat [Music] the Selenites are not settled they have no permanent dwellings they travel the globe in groups in the course of a single moon day some walking others flying [Music] the ground is strewn with pine cone shaped bodies for during the day their outer casings burn the Sun is so hot that at midday it cooks anything that is exposed to its rays [Music] [Applause] [Music] writers were inspired by the scientists imaginings and the moon became the favorite focus of science fiction [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh finally in 1969 the dream became a reality man walked on the moon when the Americans set foot on the moon they showed the whole world that there were no hairs no Selenites no forests no lakes and no God the magical moon was nothing but a satellite made of dusty barren rock [Music] over half the world's population now lives in cities and the proportion is steadily growing there is so much light pollution that starlight cannot reach the heart of cities only the moon is sometimes visible in the depths of modern life we shiver at superstitions connected with the moon whose origins we have forgotten when the moon is full we feel ill at ease we toss restlessly at the stroke of midnight [Music] as if remembering all the times our ancestors were hunted by lions the full moon is still an omen of danger [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in the course of time we have come to associate the full moon with madness murder and werewolves [Music] but is anyone still watching the moon in the heart of cities [Music] since the discovery of fire mankind has striven frantically to conquer the dark [Music] with our craving for light we have ended up obliterating the sky we have forgotten that night is profoundly beautiful and that to maintain the rhythm of life we need it just as much as Bay do we still have anything to learn from the light of the moon [Music] yet we continue to believe in the moon in its magical mysterious power and it is in China one of the most modern countries in the world that it has the most power over the collective imagination [Music] in one of the oldest Chinese folktales a princess called Shanghai is separated from her husband and the rest of mankind she lives on the moon forever with only a hair for company [Music] the annual mid-autumn moon festival on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month is dedicated to China hey the goddess of the towel wrist moon its arrival heralds one of the world's biggest migrations this time a migration of human beings Chinese people all over the world meet up with their families [Applause] the Moon Festival is a harvest festival celebrated at the mid-autumn full moon it symbolizes a time past when the moon protected crops [Applause] it centers on the goddess Chang Hey who drank the elixir of everlasting life and took the secret recipe with her [Music] this is a moon machine hundreds of millions of golden moon cakes are given and shared throughout China during the festival people give them to their friends and families as an offering to the moon to bring them happiness and so that their wishes may be granted [Music] the Moon Festival is the festival of the full moon families and young lovers meet under the biggest brightest moon of the year the fecund moon that brings happiness and prosperity [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] the cycle of the moon is an eternal new beginning that restores our faith in the beauty of the world even in the heart of cities the moon still triggers romantic yearnings [Music] it's spell is still real for anyone who cares to look up at it does anyone still see a hair in the moon does anyone still see two lovers kissing [Music] the Chinese have never stopped watching the moon and quite right too but today China is also taking an interest in the moon for the future it promises the next human being to walk on the moon will probably be Chinese they will be part of the Chang hey space program named after the immortal goddess like the other major powers China has grasped that our future may depend on the moon now that man can walk on the moon we cannot help wondering what it would be like to go further the moon has come to symbolize the possibility of reaching other worlds everyone is busy drawing up plans for the future moon base if mankind's future lies elsewhere than on earth our conquest of space could be launched from the moon [Music] today space probes equipped with telescopes have enabled us to discover over 1,000 new planets outside our solar system and there are billions and billions of others in this infinitely vast universe what chance do we stand our finding a planet as hospitable as our own watched over and protected by a kindly moon [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: wocomoDOCS

Views: 7,942

Rating: 4.2820511 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, PLAY_DOC_EN, science, ramadan, crescent moon, religion, beliefs, Earth, astronomy, astronomical body, natural satellite, Theia, giant impact, ocean tides, Moon and Sun, solar eclipse, Luna 2, NASA, Apollo, Moon's origin, Neil Armstrong, That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind, lunar soil, Venus, Lunar calendar, Moonrise, PLAY_SCI_EN, Science fiction, Sci Fi, first moon landing, 50 years moon landing, Apollo 11

Id: SiEHNRlZ73Q

Length: 53min 15sec (3195 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 22 2019