Moon Facts

The moon, the Earth's only natural satellite, is about 238,900 miles away from Earth. It is the brightest light in the night sky, yet it does not give off its own light, but reflects the sunlight. The moon is about one quarter the size of Earth and it has about one-sixth of the Earth's gravity. It is made up of rock and dust. There is no air or life on the moon that we know of. There is no wind or weather on the moon. The footprints left there by the Apollo astronauts will remain there for many years because of this.It takes about one month for the moon to travel or orbit around the Earth. The moon makes one complete rotation for each trip it takes around the Earth. The same side of the moon faces the Earth the whole time. The Moon is 3475 km in diameter.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.There are different phases of the moon, but the moon does not really change its shape. The different shapes are from different amounts of light being reflected on the moon. The differences in the light depends on the position of the Earth, moon, and sun.Phases of the moon include a New Moon, which is when the moon looks dark. There is no light reflected so we do no see the moon. Then there is a crescent moon because there is a little bit of light on the moon.Next is the first-quarter moon. It looks like a half-moon then. There are other phases, such as the Full Moon, which happens two weeks into the month.
We can see the whole face of the moon then. There is a Gibbous Moon which happens between the first-quarter and half moon, and also between the full and the last-quarter moon. 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. The moon causes many of the tides in the Earth's oceans. This is because of the gravity force between the Earth and Moon. At full Moon and new Moon, the Sun, Earth and Moon are lined up, producing the higher than normal tides (called spring tides, for the way they spring up).
When the Moon is at first or last quarter, smaller neap tides form.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.