Essay: The Magnificent Moon

The galaxy is made up of trillions of stars, milky ways, and planets, but the main predominate planets to earth are the Moon and the Sun. These planets have made an influence to the earth and its ability to sustain life for longer than any of us can remember. Not only have both the planets helped us get food, give us tidal waves, and give us oxygen through plants obtaining energy with the sun during a process called photosynthesis, they both also have greatly influenced many cultural aspects of life. The Moon has always been a light in the nights sky reflected by the light from the huge gaseous ball of fire known as the sun. The sun on the other hand has always brought the seasons and brought us the weather aspects of the planet Earth, but we can all agree that the moon has been a best friend to the earth for decades.
Being an insomniac the moon has always amazed me. Its beautiful dark lunar craters that you can see from 238,856 miles away, its illuminate glow that lights up the night sky and makes you feel more alive, like a coyote running around at dusk howling to the moon. These are all small examples of why the moon is better than the sun. The fact that the human eye can see the enchantment of the moon from such a far distance is magnificent. We can look up at the moon, unlike the sun where if you stare at it for a long time it can damage your retinal tissue, a condition known as solar retinopathy. Not being able to look at the sun just makes the moon more of a favorable choice. You can study it, stare at it,and learn more about every inch of the moon without having to use special solar glasses and fear the consequences of looking at it. We can even travel to the moon. Traveling to the sun would end up in a catastrophic death because of the fact that the sun is a huge gaseous ball of fire that would burn the ship and our bodies in a matter of milliseconds.
Travelling to the moon has also been a great success to our country. With many trials and errors we finally achieved landing on the beautiful planet in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind. With that being said the moon is a historical part of our country and has given us the hope and knowledge that has led us to such a significant understanding of the universe itself. Unlike the sun that we have feared for so long due to the understanding that in a few billion years it could explode and leave us with nothing. The lunar surface of the moon also has an american flag on it, which can give it a patriotic feeling as it it something that we worked hard on and achieved with the pride of making it happen. This first feeling of exploration was liberating and gave America the push to even go further into the unknown.
Not only has the moon made history, but it is also a part of a world wide cultural history with many references to the moon and the man on it.The European long standing tradition holds that there is a man on the moon sentenced by god to stay there for eternity because he was caught gathering sticks on the sabbath. Another tale is one of medieval christian traditions that claims him to be Cain, the wanderer, forever doomed to circle the earth. There have been a variety of documented gods and goddesses who control the moon and even though these maybe all tall tales told many years ago they still give you an insight of the cultures beliefs and how the moon influenced them. Tidal pulls are also greatly influenced by the moon and have given the ocean high tides and low tides. Without these tides we wouldn’t have such a diverse species of ocean life and migration of different fish.
The moon has been around for 4.51 billion years and the only influence its had on us is a good one, while the sun on the other hand has always been a fearful topic among many generations of scientists and cultures. We are always trying to find out ways to outrun the sun and sustain life when it blows up and leaves us with nothing. This main reason is why the beautiful simplicity of the moon makes it such a no brainer. Face it; you can’t get a sunburn or cancer from the moon and you definitely can’t die from wanting to explore or land on it. The spectacular moon has always been a light to the dark truth of the sun and i’m proud to state that I will always stand by the moon.