Blue moon...the man in the moon...the moon is made of green cheese...what do all these things mean? Are any of them true? Good question! Here’s some of what we know about our moon.
Q: How big is the moon?
A: The moon is about 2,160 miles across, which is about one-fourth the diameter of Earth.
Q: How far is the moon from Earth?
A: It is about 238,900 miles away from Earth. It is our closest neighbor.
Q: How old is the moon?
A: The moon is about 4.6 billion years old, about the same age as Earth.
Q: Have we been to the moon?
A: Yes, many times. More than 70 spacecraft have been sent to the moon, and 12 astronauts have walked on the moon. The first time was in 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. This was the Apollo 11 mission.
Q: Could we live on the moon?
A: Probably not. Temperatures on the moon can be as high as 280 degrees Fahrenheit and as low as -148 degrees Fahrenheit. These are much higher and much lower than what we have on Earth, and we probably could not survive. Also, the moon has no wind, rain or air, and because of this, it is not protected from the Sun.
Q: Is the blue moon really blue?
A: No, but wouldn’t that be cool? A blue moon means that there are two full moons in the same month. The second full moon is called the blue moon. This doesn’t happen very often--only about every three years. Usually there is only one full moon in a month.
Q: Is there really a man in the moon?
A: No, but it sure looks like it! What we see as a man in the moon is actually a giant crater on the moon’s surface. This crater is called the Imbrium Basin in the Sea of Rains. It is 700 miles wide, and is the moon’s largest crater. (The moon has about half a million craters that we know of.)
Q: Is the moon made of green cheese?
A: No, this is just a myth. Actually, the moon is covered with a layer of soil that is between 5 feet and 20 feet thick, and is made of pieces of rock and glass. The moon is also covered by craters, boulders and rocks.
Q: So why do they say it’s made of green cheese?
A: I don’t know. But I wish they’d stop because they’re making me hungry!
Crescent Moon
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