Does the Moon have any atmosphere at all?

Question

I heard there's no atmosphere on the moon. Or is there a very subtle atmosphere?

Answer 1

actually it does but it's very thin maybe a few molecules thick.

Answer 2

Ste is right. Because of the size of the moon, it has a much lower force of gravity (around a sixth that of earth). This is why astronauts can "hop" along its surface, rather than walking. The reason why we have air pressure (you have heard the weather report saying that a high or low pressure system is coming) is because of the earths gravity.

Another factor is the fact that many of the gasses that are in a planets atmosphere are also found in its rocks. The moon has been in orbit for so long that most of the gasses that it may have started out with have all been striped away. Since the moon has such a low gravitational pull, any gasses that may happen to go near it are swept away quickly. This means that there is trace amounts of gasses but not a significant amount. Not enough to be considered an atmosphere.

Answer 3

The definition of a moon ios something that goes around a planet. One moon in the solar system has an atmosphere 45% denser thasn Earth's: Titan. You won't want to breathe it, as it is N2, NH3, CH4, and a variety of other things you might find coming out the exhaust of a badly tuned car. All at a temperature of -290F. Several moons have extremely thin atmospheres, including Triton, Io, etc.

Answer 4

Although conventional wisdom says the Moon is devoid of atmosphere, and in layman's terms this may be close enough to the truth, the space just above the lunar surface is not a total vacuum. The Apollo program identified helium and argon atoms there, and Earth-based observations added sodium and potassium ions to the list in 1988.

Answer 5

I don't think there is much atmosphere to speak of on the moon. But there is very subtle gravity.

Answer 6

The atmosphere of the moon was approximately doubled in size by the Apollo program. So you gotta figure its atmosphere is almost non-existent.

Answer 7

No the moon doesn't have any sort of atmosphere what so ever. There aren't even any type of gases on the moon like oxygen.

Answer 8

The Moon doesn't have what we consider to be an atmosphere but there isn't a complete absence of gases or "air borne" particles either.

In fact, much of space itself contains gases, such as hydrogen, in low densities.

Answer 9

No, there's no atmosphere on the Moon - it's gravatational pull is too week to hold one.

Answer 10

actually it has a tiny sodium atmosphere, just like mercury