- The Moon is 384, 400 kilometers from the Earth, making it the nearest astronomical body.
- Other than the earth, The Moon is the only astronomical body that humans have walked upon.
- The Moon does not make its own light. Its apparent brightness is due to being lit by the Sun.
- It is likely that the Moon’s matter once belonged to the Earth, breaking off due to an impact around 4.5 billion years ago.
- You’ll often hear the words “luna” and “lunar” in reference the Moon. “Luna” is derived from Latin, meaning “moon”.
- The Moon orbits the Earth in around 27 days. During this time, the Moon itself only rotates once. It is tidally locked with the Earth, meaning it only ever shows us one face.
- You cannot breathe on the Moon. The atmospheric pressure is much lower than that of Earth’s atmosphere, and consists of atomic oxygen, argon, helium, sodium and potassium. The pressure is so low that it is virtually a vacuum.
- The Moon is much smaller than Earth. It is also less massive, and consequently has a weaker gravitational pull. On the surface of the Moon you would weigh only about one sixth what you would on Earth.
- The Moon’s orbit is getting slightly bigger, about 3.8 cm per year. In other words, the Moon is slowly moving away from Earth.
- Data collected from instruments in lunar orbit suggest ice is situated at the Moon’s poles.
For more information on the Moon, including details on movement, rotation and phases, read the World Book at NASA Moon article. See the The Open University’s OpenLearn website hosts their introductory course unit, The Moon.
Sources
The Moon, NASA (World Book at NASA), accessed: 22nd February 2009, author: Spudis, P.
Chapter 6 (pp65-67), Teach Yourself Planets, published by Hodder Education in 2003, author: Rothery, D.
The Moon, Open University’s Learning Space website, accessed: 22nd February 2009, no author specified.
