Amazing facts to know about the Moon
Facts to know about the moon – Do you know, there is no dark side of the Moon? Both sides of the Moon have the same amount of sunlight because the Moon is locked to Earth and only one face of the Moon is ever seen from Earth. The side we see from Earth is reflected by sunlight, while the “dark” side is seen by the human eye from a spacecraft. Here are some amazing facts to know about the Moon.
Amazing facts to know about the Moon
- Scientists say the Moon is slowly moving away from Earth. Every year, the Moon moves approx. 3.8 cm away from Earth. Scientists estimates that this will continue to happen for 50 billion years. At that time, the Moon will take 47 days to orbit the Earth as against 27.3 days it takes currently.
- Moon was formed 4.6 billion years ago, approx. 30–50 million years after the solar system was formed, and is Earth’s only natural satellite.
- At the time of formation, Moon had a liquid core and experienced lava flows. This created flat basins at the moon. It gradually cooled down and a thick crust was formed.
- The diameter of the Moon is 3,476 km and there are over 500,000 craters on the Moon’s surface.
Do read: ISRO Chief: Journey of Dr Kailasavadivoo Sivan from a farmer’s son to a rocket scientist
- The high and low tides on Earth are caused by the Moon. There is a gravitational pull that is applied by the Moon. There are bulges on the surface of the moon. These bulges move around the oceans as the Earth rotates which causes high and low tides.
Facts to know about the moon
- Till now, 12 people have walked on the Moon. The first person to land on the moon was Neil Armstrong in 1969 as part of the Apollo 11 mission and the last person was Gene Cernan in 1972 on the Apollo 17 mission. Since 1972, all missions have been done by unmanned spacecraft.
- A very interesting fact about the moon is that you weigh much less on the Moon. Moon has much weaker gravity than Earth and hence you weight one-sixth (about 16.5%) of your Earth weight while on the Moon.
Must read: What is ISRO and its important missions till date
- Man will be visiting moon again! NASA is planning to set up a permanent space station on the Moon.
- There is no atmosphere on moon, no protection for the surface from cosmic rays, asteroids, meteorites, comets, or solar winds. Because of this Moon has huge temperature variations which range from -250 degrees F in the dark to +250 degrees F in the light.
Facts to know about the moon
- There is no sound on the Moon and the sky is always black.
- The tallest mountain on the Moon is Mons Huygens. It is 4700 metres tall, little over half of Mt Everest’s height of 8848 metres.
- The Moon is the fifth-largest natural satellite. It is smaller than many moons of Saturn and Jupiter, but Moon is the largest when we talk about the size of the planet it orbits. Earth is almost 80 times the volume of the Moon.
- When the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon and a shadow is seen on the Moon, a lunar eclipse occurs.
Must read: Unknown Facts about Incredible India
For more articles like, “Facts to know about the Moon”, do follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
