Moon

This article "Moon" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one. The Moon (Latin: «luna») is Earth's satellite, and we usually see it in the night sky. Other planets also have moons or «natural satellites». Our moon is about a quarter the size of the Earth. Because it is far away it looks small, about half a degree wide. The gravity on the moon is one-sixth of the Earth's gravity. It means that something will be six times lighter on the Moon than on Earth. The Moon is a rocky and dusty place. The Moon drifts away from Earth at the rate of four centimeters each year, and it has a diameter of 3,474.2 kilometers.

The Lunar Phases^[1][edit]

The Moon being round, half of it is lit up by the sun. As it goes orbits the Earth, sometimes the side that people on Earth can see is all lit brightly. Other times only a small part of the side we see is lit. This is because the Moon does not send out its own light. People only see the parts that are being lit by sunlight. These different stages are called the Phases of the Moon.

It takes the Moon about 29.5 days to complete the cycle, from big and bright to small and dim and back to big and bright. The phase when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun is called the new moon. The next phase of the moon is called the waxing crescent, followed by the first quarter, waxing gibbous, then to a full moon. A full Moon occurs when the moon and sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. As the Moon continues its orbit it becomes a waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent, and finally back to a new moon. People used the moon to measure time. A month is approximately equal in time to a lunar cycle.

The moon always shows the same side to Earth. Astronomers call this phenomenon tidal locking. This means that half of it can never be seen from Earth. The side facing away from Earth is called the far side or dark side of the Moon, and even though the sun does shine on it, we just never see it lit.

Gallery[edit]

a simple image of the Moon.
Panorama of the moon taken during mission Apollo 17 (Station 1 East). Composed of 24 images: AS17-134-20408 to AS17-134-20431.
an alignment of Mercury, Venus, and the Moon.
The Earth and Moon compared to Rhea, a moon of Saturn
Earth, Moon and Lunar Module, in lunar orbit after return from the moon and before rendezvous with the Apollo 11 Command/Service Module. Mars is visible as the red dot on the right-hand side of Earth. AS11-44-6643.
The distance from the Earth to the Moon to scale.
an image of the Earth-Moon system taken from Mars.
The Earth and Moon as taken by Mariner 10.
The Moon as seen from Earth over cumulus clouds.