Oor Yird didna aye hae a moon. But we maun be thankfae that it daes. Oor Moon keeps us richt an pits the haims on oor planet’s wabble sae that it daesna tilt ower faur, ower shairp like. This slaw wabble taewards an awa fae the sun gies us oor seasons an made the Yird jist richt for life tae kythe. The Moon taks 27.3 days tae gae aboot the Yird. Deed, it is fae this gang-roond that we took the word moon in Indo-European leids and made the word month. Sae month jist means the time that the Moon taks tae gae aboot us.

Awa back in the early days o oor Sun Gird the sindry rocks that traivelt aboot it whiles clattert intil ane anither, smushin the life oot the sma anes but clingin tae the bigger bodies until the first planets kythed. It is jaloused that ane o thir bodies – the early Yird – bairged intil anither rock some 4.53 billion year syne, sheavin aff pairt o the sphere an flingin materials awgaits.  The ither rock gaed roond aboot us like a lang string o perlins until it gaithert intil a sma body aboot a quarter oor size an syne wis claucht in oor bigger pull tae gang-roond us for evermair. Sae the Moon wis born. We say for evermair, but in actual fact the Moon is movin awa fae the Yird, gey slaw like. This fact wis estaiblisht whan man left mirras on the moon efter 1969. Whiles lasers is shot at the mirras an ilka time it taks jist a wee tait mair time for the licht tae come back.

As Jock Tamson’s bairns grew ower lang ages o time sindry cultures makkit legends aboot the cheil in the Moon – in Europe the Moon is thocht tae look like a man’s face – or the muckle jade kinnen that is seen throu Asian een, a tradeetion that haed its oreeginal oot o Cheena. In the Roman impire fowk used tae worship the Moon goddess Luna – giein us the modren word lunar. The Soviet Union wis the first tae send oot craft tae the Moon, the first rattlin intil’t in 1959, but a second ane, Luna 9, landin hale an fiere in 1966. In Jooly 1969 the Apollo 11 mission flichtit fae the USA wis the first tae set actual humans doun on the Moon. Neil Armstrong – dootless sprung fae the Scots Airmstrangs – wis the first human body tae lea a fit steid in the Moon’s stour. The hinmaist landing that set humans doun on the Moon (at least, that the publict kens aboot) wis the Apollo 17 ane that landit in Dezember 1972. On thon 1972 veage the war five mice an-aw that bade on the module as it flew aroond the Moon. Sindry progs haes been sent tae the Moon ower the years bi mony ither kintras but sae faur as we ken nae human haes set fit on it again in near fifty year.

The Moon itsel is a rock wantin ony atmosphere wi ae side aye facin awa fae the sun – the sae cawed the daurk side o the Moon – but the side taewards us taks maist o its licht aff the Yird. The ither side daes get licht aff the sun. It haes ane-saxt the gravity o the Yird an this is whit wey human veesitors didna jist walk but lowpit ower the Moon’s surface.

Acause the’r nae atmosphere, an acause the’r nae plates flittin or clatterin aboot, the Moon looks deid. This means that ony rocks fae aff-warld that maks a breenge at it will thraw up craters that we can see tae this day. The’r jist naething tae weir thaim awa. Ane o the maist kenspeckle o thir craters is cryed Tycho efter the Dens astrologue Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) while the Laich o Aitken is the biggest laich in the Sun Gird that wis made wi a dunt fae anither body. It is the length o 1,550 mile an wis makkit aboot 3.9 billion year syne.

In mair recent times it haes been proven that the’r ice in sindry craters at baith the poles o the Moon. This is acause the tilt o the Moon daesna lat the sun byle the watter awa. It is jaloused that the watter is whiles brocht throu comets.