Moon – Its Profile
Mass: 7.35 × 10^22 kg (0.01 Earths)
Diameter: 3,475 km
Orbits: The Earth
Orbit Distance: 384,400 km
Orbit Period: 27.3 days
Surface Temperature: -233 to 123 °C
Moon- Important Facts
The Moon is the fifth largest satellite in our Solar System.
The Moon is Earth’s lone natural satellite.
The Moon’s total surface area is 14,658,000 sq. mi (37,932,000 sq. km).
The Moon is a little more than one-fourth the size of Earth.
The Moon’s diameter is 2,160 miles (3,476 km).
Average distance between the Earth and the Moon is about 239,000 miles.
The Moon rotates at ten miles per hour.
The speed in which the moon orbits the earth is at 2,300 miles an hour.
Closest distance between the Moon and the Sun is 91,341,565 miles (147 million km).
The Moon’s gravity is 1/6 that of Earth.
Temperatures on the moon range from 253° F (123° C) to -387° F (-233° C).
If you weighed 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 16.6 pounds on the moon.
The Moon does not have an atmosphere; there is no wind on the Moon.
Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.
Only one side of the Moon is visible from earth at any given time.
When the Moon is directly above you and you are along the coast, you will encounter a high tide.
Apollo 11 was the American space mission to first reach and land on the moon.
The Moon orbits around the Earth every 29 days.
The moon has four phases, the first quarter, last quarter, the full moon, and the new moon.
There are more than 300,000 craters on the moon at more than one kilometer wide, just on one side.
Solar eclipses occur when the Moon is between the Sun and Earth.
Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth is located in between the Sun and the Moon.
The ashes of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, a man who was declined to be an astronaut due to medical conditions, were flown into a crater on the moon on July 31, 1999 as his dying wish.
The craters found on the moon’s surface are caused by asteroids and comets when they crash onto the surface of the moon.
It takes the Moon the same amount of time to rotate on its axis that it takes to orbit around the Earth.
A Harvest Moon is actually a full moon that appears during the autumnal equinox, which is around September.
A Hunters Moon is sometimes called the blood moon and even sanguine moon. This full moon occurs after the harvest moon.
A Super Full Moon appears brighter and larger than a normal full moon. This occurs a few days prior to spring equinox.
The moon is shaped like an egg, with the larger end pointing toward the Earth.
Any footprints made by astronauts on the moon are still there and will remain for millions of years because the moon has no atmosphere or wind.
Astronaut Alan Sheppard drove a golf ball 2,400 feet, or almost half of a mile, while on the surface of the moon.
Back in 1988, of people who were surveyed by the Lowell Observatory of Flagstaff, Arizona, 13% believed that the moon’s surface was indeed made of cheese.
During the Cold War, the United States had considered detonating nuclear weapons on the Moon to demonstrate its power to the Russians.
The American flags left on the moon are most likely bleached white now from solar radiation.