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Facts about the Moon
The Moon travels around the Earth.
The Moon travels around the Earth in a circle called an orbit.
The Moon takes about 27 days (27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.6 seconds) to go all the way around the Earth and return to its starting position. |
A lunar month is the time the moon takes to pass through a complete cycle of its phases and is measured from New Moon to New Moon. A lunar month is about 29.5 days (29 days, 12 hours, 43 minutes, 11.6 seconds) |
Whilst the Moon is orbiting the Earth, the Earth is constantly moving because it is orbiting the sun. The Moon therefore travels slightly more than 360° to get from one new moon to the next. Thus the lunar month is longer. |
The Moon is 4.5 billion years old. |
Looking down from the north pole we would see the Moon orbiting counterclockwise from west to east. |
Did you know? The moon moves toward the east in our sky by about 12 degrees each day. The moon rises in the east and sets in the west |
The Moon is about 250,000 miles (384,400 kilometres) from Earth.
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The moon orbits Earth at a speed of 2,288 miles per hour (3,683 kilometres per hour). |
The Moon travels a distance of 1,423,000 miles (2,290,000 kilometres) around the Earth |
The Moon has a diameter of 2,000 miles ( 3,476 kilometres). |
The surface of the moon has many things on it such as craters, lava plains, mountains, and valleys. Scientists believe the craters were formed around 3.5 to 4.5 billion years ago by meteors hitting the moon's surface. |
The Moon has no atmosphere Water was discovered on the moon in November 2009 There is no wind or weather on the moon. The footprints left there by the Apollo astronauts will remain there for millions of years because of this. |
The moon reflects light from the sun. We can see the Moon because light from the Sun bounces off it back to the Earth. If the Sun wasn't there, we wouldn't be able to see it. The Sun always lights up (illuminates) half of the Moon at one time. The Moon appears to change shape but what we are actually seeing is the Moon lit up by the light from the Sun in different ways on different days. |
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We always see the same side of the moon. The Moon always keeps the same side pointing towards us so we can never see the 'back' of the Moon from the Earth. As the moon rotates around the earth, it also rotates around its own axis at the same rate. This is why we always see the same side of the moon.
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The moon rises and sets at specific times, according to what phase it is in: The new moon rises and sets at approximately the same time as the sun. The first quarter moon rises at mid-morning and sets at midnight. So it's at its height around dusk, not in the middle of the night. The full moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. The full moon is the only moon that will be overhead in the middle of the night. The last quarter moon rises at midnight and sets at mid-morning. So unless you're a late-owl, you've probably never even seen this moon. |
The full moon is a lunar phase occurring when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun and all three bodies are aligned in a straight line. It appears as an entire circle in the sky. The only month that can occur without a full moon is February. The world's tidal ranges are at their maximum during the full moon when the sun, earth and moon are in line. The full moon is given different names, depending on when it appears:
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Moon animations  |
 Why does the moon look different in the southern hemisphere? |
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Introduction to phases | |
Tips for Moon watching |
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Shapes of the Moon | |
Moon around the world |
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Time to see each phase | |
Facts about the Moon |
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Moon Calendar 2010 | |
Moon animation |
