0:00When Earth’s tectonic plates rub against one
another, they create planet-shaking shockwaves
0:04that we Earthlings call “earthquakes”.
Most other planetary bodies in our Solar
0:09System don't have tectonic plates, though,
but, somehow, they DO still have quakes.
0:16And we've been measuring quakes on our own moon
since the 1960's. Thanks to the Moon’s slightly
0:21elliptical orbit, tidal forces shift its mass
around deep below the crust, causing moonquakes.
0:26Wild temperature swings on the Moon’s surface
also cause its crust to expand, contract, and,
0:31yes, quake. Most moonquakes are pretty wimpy, but
one – the strongest ever detected there – had a
0:37magnitude of 5.7, which would definitely knock
the pictures off the wall of your moon base.
