The Moon

📖 In short

Look at the sky at night… that shining silver disc is the Moon, our nearest neighbor in space! The Moon has gone around the Earth for millions of years; it doesn't shine by itself but reflects sunlight, like a big mirror hanging in the sky.

🤩 Did you know?

The Moon is about 384000 kilometers from Earth.
The Moon goes around the Earth about every 27 days, and we always see the same face!
The Moon's gravity is six times weaker than Earth's, so if you jumped there you'd fly up high!
Astronauts' footprints are still on the Moon, because there's no wind to blow them away.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 A world without air

The Moon has no air, no liquid water and no weather. So there's no sound at all and no wind blows. Its surface gets very hot by day and very cold at night.

🔍 Craters everywhere

The Moon's surface is covered in thousands of round holes called craters, made when rocks from space crashed into it. There are also wide dark plains that look like patches from Earth.

💡 Why does its shape change?

The Moon doesn't really change, but we see different parts of its sunlit face as it goes around us. So it looks like a thin crescent, then a half moon, then a full round moon!

🎯 Visitors from Earth

In 1969 astronauts landed on the Moon for the first time aboard Apollo 11. Twelve astronauts walked on its surface and brought back rocks that scientists still study today.