Outer Space is a wondrous world, and looking up at it, especially late at night, fills your mind with all kinds of questions, especially about the round ball of light known as the moon. How did it get there? What is it made of? How far away is it really? There are lots of things to learn about the moon, and here you will find lots of interesting facts to get you started!
FACT: Although from where we are looking at the moon on the earth it looks so much closer, it is actually 250,000 miles away from the earth! How long do you think it would take for you to travel that far? Well, if driving in a car it would take you 130 days to reach the moon!
FACT: It takes the moon just 27 days to travel all the way around our giant earth and return to where it started. The path that it takes as it travels around the earth, which is a circle, is called an orbit.
FACT: The moon is much smaller than our planet, Earth, but is still very big. It is about 2000 miles wide, which is about four times smaller than Earth. So basically, four moons could fit onto planet Earth!
FACT: Although during the day it is extremely hot on the moon, it is very cold there at night. This is because during the day the moon has no protection from the sun’s rays which can cause it to get very, very hot; but once the sun has gone down, the temperature of the moon drops drastically. The temperature can go from 123 degrees Celsius during the day, to -233 degrees Celsius at night!
FACT: Have you ever heard of the man in the moon? Well, many people, when they look at the moon, think that they can see the shape of a face in the different shapes and colors on the moon. But there really is no such thing as the man in the moon. The image that people think they see are just dark and light areas on the moon’s surface.
FACT: People have walked on the moon! In 1969, two astronauts named Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin traveled to the moon on the space shuttle Apollo 11. Mr. Armstrong was the very first man to ever step foot on the moon, and Mr. Aldrin was the second. They stayed there for almost a full day, collecting moon rocks to bring back to earth to study.
FACT: The moon’s surface is covered with craters from being hit millions of times by meteors over the years. Unlike on earth, there is no wind, rain, or snow on the moon to wear down the craters over time, so they stay the same, as does the rest of the moon’s surface. Even the footprints of the first men to walk on the moon are still there!
The sky above us is filled with all sorts of interesting objects from stars to planets, and the moon. These are some fun facts about the moon, but there is still tons more to learn, and the world wide web is a great place to get information about the moon and the entire solar system. Some great websites to start with are www.spaceplace.nasa.gov and www.kidsastronomy.com. At these websites, and others like them, you can learn new and interesting facts about the moon and the rest of galaxy, as well as play games and other activities, so you’re not just learning, you’re also having loads of fun!
