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31 sourced facts

Fun Facts About the Moon

Footprints that last millions of years, a Moon that is drifting away and more true Moon facts.

Astronauts’ footprints on the Moon could last for millions of years.

Days on Earth are slowly getting longer.

The Moon is drifting away from Earth by about 3.8 cm a year.

We always see the same side of the Moon.

Twelve people have walked on the Moon, all between 1969 and 1972.

The Moon has earthquakes, called moonquakes.

The Moon’s gravity causes most of the ocean tides.

The Moon probably formed when a planet-sized object hit the early Earth.

There are golf balls on the Moon.

Gravity on the Moon is about one sixth of Earth’s.

The "dark side of the Moon" is not actually dark.

Temperatures on the Moon swing by nearly 300°C between day and night.

The Moon is the fifth-largest moon in the solar system.

The Moon is about 384,400 kilometers away.

Moonlight takes about 1.3 seconds to reach Earth.

The Moon has almost no atmosphere.

There is water ice on the Moon.

The Moon goes through its phases every 29.5 days.

The word "month" comes from the Moon.

During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon turns red.

The dark patches on the Moon are ancient lava plains.

Astronauts drove cars on the Moon.

China made the first landing on the Moon’s far side in 2019.

Apollo astronauts brought back 382 kilograms of Moon rock.

A supermoon looks bigger because the Moon is closer.

NASA plans to send astronauts back to the Moon under the Artemis program.

The Moon "rang like a bell" when a rocket stage hit it.

The Sun is about 400 times wider than the Moon and about 400 times farther away.

Earth lights up the Moon’s dark side.

Fun Facts About the Moon: all 31, explained

Astronauts’ footprints on the Moon could last for millions of years.
The Moon has almost no atmosphere, so there is no wind or rain to wear footprints away. The main threat is the slow rain of tiny meteorites, which takes a very long time to erase them.
Source: Moon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Days on Earth are slowly getting longer.
The Moon’s pull on the oceans acts like a brake on Earth’s spin. Over time this adds a tiny fraction of a second to the length of a day, so in the age of the dinosaurs a day was shorter than 24 hours.
Source: Tidal acceleration (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon is drifting away from Earth by about 3.8 cm a year.
Laser measurements using reflectors left by Apollo astronauts show the Moon moves away from Earth by about 3.8 centimetres a year, roughly as fast as fingernails grow.
Source: Lunar Laser Ranging experiments (Wikipedia) · Fact card
We always see the same side of the Moon.
The Moon spins once on its axis in the same time it takes to orbit Earth, so the same face always points towards us. This is called tidal locking. The far side was first photographed by a Soviet probe in 1959.
Source: Tidal locking (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Twelve people have walked on the Moon, all between 1969 and 1972.
Every Moon walker was an American astronaut on one of six Apollo landings. The first was Neil Armstrong in July 1969 and the last was Gene Cernan in December 1972.
Source: List of Apollo astronauts (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon has earthquakes, called moonquakes.
Seismometers left by Apollo astronauts recorded moonquakes, some caused by Earth’s pull and others by the Moon’s surface heating and cooling.
Source: Moonquake (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon’s gravity causes most of the ocean tides.
The Moon pulls on Earth’s oceans, creating bulges of water that move around the planet as Earth turns. The Sun adds a smaller pull.
Source: Tide (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon probably formed when a planet-sized object hit the early Earth.
The leading theory is that a Mars-sized body, often called Theia, struck Earth about 4.5 billion years ago and the debris came together to form the Moon.
Source: Giant-impact hypothesis (Wikipedia) · Fact card
There are golf balls on the Moon.
Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard hit two golf balls on the lunar surface in 1971 using a club head attached to a sample-collecting tool.
Source: Alan Shepard (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Gravity on the Moon is about one sixth of Earth’s.
That is why astronauts bounced along in big hops. You could jump about six times higher on the Moon than at home.
Source: Moon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The "dark side of the Moon" is not actually dark.
The far side gets as much sunlight as the near side. It is only hidden from Earth, not from the Sun.
Source: Far side of the Moon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Temperatures on the Moon swing by nearly 300°C between day and night.
With no air to hold heat, the surface can reach over 120°C in sunlight and drop below minus 170°C in darkness.
Source: Moon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon is the fifth-largest moon in the solar system.
It is about a quarter as wide as Earth, which makes it unusually large compared with its planet.
Source: Moon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon is about 384,400 kilometers away.
All the other planets in the solar system could fit in the gap between Earth and the Moon.
Source: Lunar distance (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Moonlight takes about 1.3 seconds to reach Earth.
That small delay was noticeable in radio conversations with Apollo astronauts.
Source: Lunar distance (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon has almost no atmosphere.
Without air to scatter light, the sky on the Moon is black even in daytime, and there is no wind or weather.
Source: Atmosphere of the Moon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
There is water ice on the Moon.
Ice has been found in permanently shadowed craters near the poles, which is why future bases are planned there.
Source: Lunar water (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon goes through its phases every 29.5 days.
The phases happen because we see different amounts of the Moon’s sunlit half as it orbits Earth.
Source: Lunar phase (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The word "month" comes from the Moon.
Many early calendars were based on the cycle of lunar phases.
Source: Month (Wikipedia) · Fact card
A "blue moon" is usually the second full moon in a calendar month.
It happens about every two to three years. The Moon does not actually turn blue.
Source: Blue moon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon turns red.
Sunlight bent through Earth’s atmosphere reaches the Moon, giving it a coppery color sometimes called a blood moon.
Source: Lunar eclipse (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The dark patches on the Moon are ancient lava plains.
Early astronomers thought they were seas and called them maria, Latin for "seas".
Source: Lunar mare (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The American flags left on the Moon have probably been bleached white.
Decades of strong sunlight without an atmosphere are thought to have faded the colors.
Source: Lunar Flag Assembly (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Astronauts drove cars on the Moon.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle was used on Apollo 15, 16 and 17, and all three are still there.
Source: Lunar Roving Vehicle (Wikipedia) · Fact card
China made the first landing on the Moon’s far side in 2019.
The Chang’e 4 mission landed in the Von Kármán crater and deployed a rover.
Source: Chang’e 4 (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Apollo astronauts brought back 382 kilograms of Moon rock.
Samples are still studied today and some are loaned to schools and museums.
Source: Moon rock (Wikipedia) · Fact card
A supermoon looks bigger because the Moon is closer.
The Moon’s orbit is an oval, so a full moon near its closest point can look up to about 14% larger than one at its farthest.
Source: Supermoon (Wikipedia) · Fact card
NASA plans to send astronauts back to the Moon under the Artemis program.
Artemis aims to land people near the Moon’s south pole, the first crewed landings since 1972.
Source: Artemis program (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Moon "rang like a bell" when a rocket stage hit it.
Apollo seismometers recorded vibrations lasting over an hour after spent rocket stages crashed into the surface.
Source: Moonquake (Wikipedia) · Fact card
The Sun is about 400 times wider than the Moon and about 400 times farther away.
That coincidence is why the Moon can just cover the Sun in a total solar eclipse.
Source: Solar eclipse (Wikipedia) · Fact card
Earth lights up the Moon’s dark side.
Sunlight reflected off Earth, called earthshine, makes the unlit part of a crescent Moon faintly visible.
Source: Earthshine (Wikipedia) · Fact card

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