Interesting facts about Moon

moon

The Moon (or Luna) is the Earth’s only natural satellite and was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30–50 million years after the formation of the solar system.

The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,403 kilometres (238,857 miles).

The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. The first unmanned mission to the Moon was in 1959 by the Soviet Lunar Program with the first manned landing being Apollo 11 in 1969.

The moon was created when a rock the size of Mars slammed into Earth, shortly after the solar system began forming about 4.5 billion years ago, according to the leading theory.

moon creation

The Earth’s tides are largely caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon.

If the Moon didn’t spin at all, then eventually it would show its far side to the Earth while moving around our planet in orbit. However, since the rotational period is exactly the same as the orbital period, the same portion of the Moon’s sphere is always facing the Earth.

The Moon is not round, but egg shaped.

The Moon is very hot during the day but very cold at night. The average surface temperature of the Moon is 107 degrees Celsius (224 °F) during the day and -153 degrees Celsius (-243 °F) at night.

A full day on the moon, from one sunrise to the next, lasts about 29.5 Earth days on average.

The moon’s heavily cratered surface is the result of intense pummeling by space rocks between 4.1 billion and 3.8 billion years ago.

moon surface

Mons Huygens is the tallest mountain on the Moon, it is 4700 meters tall, just over half the height of Mt Everest.

Your weight on the moon is 16.5% of your weight on Earth.

If the Earth didn’t have the moon, our days would only be 6 hours long.

The Earth, seen from the moon, also goes through phases.

earth from moon

The dark side of the Moon is actually turquoise.

No man has been on the Moon in the last 41 years.

The original tapes of the Apollo 11 moon landing were erased and re-used by mistake.

Your mobile phone has more computing power than the computers used for the Apollo 11 moon landing.

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon, they honored soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin by leaving behind one of his medals.

Moon landing conspiracy theories were proven wrong in 2011 when a NASA probe revealed high-resolution photos of the Apollo Moon landing sites.

A 2013 survey found 7% of Americans believe the moon landing was a hoax.

The American flags placed on the moon are now white due to radiation from the sun.

NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon to set up a permanent space station. Mankind may once again walk on the moon in 2019, if all goes according to plan.

The beautiful symmetry of a total solar eclipse happens because —by pure chance— the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, but is also 400 times farther from Earth, making the two bodies appear the exact same size in the sky.

total solar elipse

If there are two full moons in the same month, the second one is called blue moon.

People experience better sleep during the new moon and worse sleep during a full moon, a study found.

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