Moon Facts for Kids

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Look at these amazing Moon facts for children! What is the size of the Moon? Who was the first person to walk on it? Why there is only one side that we see and many other facts. Keep reading and you'll find out!

  • The Moon is the only one natural satellite to Earth. Natural satellites are space objects that orbit a planet (or other space body).
  • Our Moon is the fifth largest satellite in Solar System.
  • The approximate distance from the Moon to our planet is 384403 km (238857 mi).
  • Every 27 days (to be precise 27.3) the Moon makes a full circle around our planet.
  • The Moon also has mountains. The tallest one is Mons Huygens and is 4700m in height.
  • It takes the same amount of time for the Moon to rotate around its own axis as well as to make full circle around Earth. So we always see only one side of the moon which is approximately 60% of its area.
  • The side available for us is called the near side, and the one that can not be seen - the far side ( you can often hear a name - the dark side, but it is a myth, as the far side has as much sunlight as the near one).
  • The gravity on the Moon is weaker than on Earth, about 1\5 of the gravity of our planet.
  • The first non-human landing of the spacecraft on the Moon was made by Soviet Union's Lunar mission in 1966.
  • Apollo 11 was the first mission when the man stepped on the lunar surface, USA, NASA 1969.
  • Neil Armstrong was the first human-being to walk the Moon.
  • The far side of he Moon has another look, as it has not so many marias (very old places of consolidated lava).
  • The Moon's land is full of craters of different sizes, because through the time a lot of asteroids ran into its surface, as Moon almost has no atmosphere and these craters can be well seen from the Earth.
  • As for now, scientists continue the research, and many of them think that there is some water on the Moon.
  • The Moon has extremely high temperature during the day, and extremely low at night. It is about 107°C during the day and -153°C at night.
  • The gravitational pull of the Moon is the reason of tides on our planet.
  • Moon Phases are: New Moon, Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Crescent, New Moon.
  • When the Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon, such phenomenon as lunar eclipse occurs.

Facts about the Moon

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Moon is widely known as the only satellite for Earth, and it is quite old - 4.6 billion years. Moon is always faced with the same side to the Earth, as both of them are moving synchronically.

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The 'dark' side of the moon

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The Moon goes into Earth's orbit every 27.3 days. The side of the Moon that we can see all the time is commonly known as the near side. Another side is called the far side.

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