Moon Facts
And for those of you scientifically minded folks who are interested in some practical data on the moon…
Here is a nice list of moon-facts (courtesy of moonconnection.com)~ photos by me!
- The moon is not a planet, but a satellite of the Earth.
- The surface area of the moon is 14,658,000 square miles or 9.4 billion acres
- Only 59% of the moon’s surface is visible from earth.
- The moon rotates at 10 miles per hour compared to the earth’s rotation of 1000 miles per hour.
- When a month has two full moons, the second full moon is called a blue moon. Another definition of a blue moon is the third full moon in any
season (quarter of year) containing 4 total full moons. - From Earth, we always see the same side of the moon; the other side is always hidden.
- The dark spots we see on the moon that create the image of the man in the moon are actually craters filled with basalt, which is a very dense material.
- The moon is the only extraterrestrial body that has ever been visited by humans. It is also the only body that has had samples taken from it.
- The first space craft to send back pictures from the moon was Luna 3 (built by the Soviet Union) in October 1959.
- The moon has no global magnetic field.
- The moon is about 1/4 the size of the Earth.
I am most grateful for your thoughts and comments: