MOON FACTS

                                MOON SIZE TO ASIA                                                     MOON SIZE TO AUSTRALIA

Distance from Earth..................................225,745 mile

Length of a Day ...........................................27.3 days

Radius......................................................1,080 miles

Diameter..................................................2,160 miles

Surface Temp. (Day)...................................273 deg F

Surface Temp (Night).................................-244 deg F

Orbital Speed.............................................2,287 mph

Driving Time by car 70mph..........................135 days

Flying time rocket........................................60-70 hrs

Age of Oldest Rock..............................4.5 billion yrs

Widest Craters...................................140 miles (dia)

Deepest Craters........................................15,000+ft

Highest Mountains.....................................16,000+ft

Moon called Luna by the Romans, Selene and Artemis by the Greeks, and many other names in other mythologies.

It is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun.  As the Moon orbits around the Earth once per month, the angle between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun changes: we see this as the cycle of the Moons phases.  The time between successive new moons is 29.5 days (709 hours)

The moon is actually moving away from Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches a year.

The surface area of the moon is 14,658,000 square miles or 9.4 billion acres.

Only about 59 percent of the moons surface is visible to us here on earth.

The earth rotates about 1000mph.  Moon rotates 10mph

The new moon always rises at sunrise

And the first quarter at noon

The full moon always rises at sunset

The last quarter at midnight

What about phases? Here's how they work: As the Moon orbits Earth, it spends part of its time between us and the Sun, and the lighted half faces away from us.  his is called a new Moon. (So there's no such thing as a "dark side of the Moon", just a side that we never see)

As the Moon swings around on its orbit, a thin sliver of reflected sunlight is seen on Earth as a crescent Moon.  Once the Moon is opposite the Sun, it becomes fully lit from our view - a full Moon.

The Moon's heavily cratered surface is the result of intense pummelling by space rocks between 4.1 billion and 3.8 billion years ago.

The scars of this war, seen as craters, have not eroded much for two main reasons: The Moon is not geologically very active, so earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain-building don't destroy the landscape as they do on Earth: and with virtually no atmosphere there is no wind or rain, so very little surface erosion occurs.

Tides on Earth are caused mostly by the Moon (the Sun has a smaller effect). Here's how it works:

The Moon's gravity pulls on Earth's oceans.  High tide aligns with the Moon as Earth spins underneath.  Another high tide occurs on the opposite side of the planet because gravity pulls Earth toward the Moon more than it pulls the water.

At full Moon and new Moon, the Sun, Earth and Moon are lined up, producing the higher than normal tides (called spring tides, for the way they spring up).  When the Moon is at first or last quarter, smaller neap tides form.  The Moon's 29.5 day orbit around Earth is not quite circular.  When the Moon is closest to Earth (called its perigee), spring tides are even higher, and they're called perigean spring tides.

The full moon rises at Sunset, the Dark Moon rises at Sunrise.  The First Quarter rises at Noon and the last Quarter rises at Midnight. 

 Each day the moon rises approx 50 minutes later than the day before.

Every day the Moon will rise in the East and set in the West, same as the Sun.  East is the direction of new beginnings and West is the directions of endings and completion.

On average, there is only one Blue Moon every 33 months.  A Blue Moon is the second full moon in a calendar month.

A month with no Full Moon is one of the rarest things you will ever find.  We will only see 4 this century (based on AEST) February of 2010, 2029, 2048, and 2094.  With the exception of 2094 which has blue moons in Jan and April, Blue moons will occur both in Jan and March.