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The Moon The moon is a ball of rock that orbits the earth once every 27 days . The side that faces the Sun is often hotter than boiling water but the other side is freezing cold .There is no air or running water on the Moon and the surface is dry and dusty. It is the only place in space that astronauts from Earth have visited.
The Moon is 4.5 billon years old . The Moon is about 250,000 miles (384,400 kilometres) from Earth. The Moon orbits Earth at an average speed of 2.288 miles per hour (3.683 kilometres per hour). The Moon travels a distance of 1.432, 000 miles (2,290,000 kilometres) around the Earth. The Moon is very different from Earth .There is no air no weather and no life. It is a dreary, dusty place that is boiling hot by day and freezing at night. The surface is covered with saucer shaped holes called craters you can see some if you looK at the Moon on a clear night. Some are so huge , a city the size of London could fit inside them.
In 1969 the first astronauts landed on the Moon. this trip was followed by five more missions the last in 1972.Each time the astronauts landed on a different part of the Moon. They explored the area near their landing site set up experiments and collected Moon rocks to bring back to Earth. The first man to take the first step on the moon was Neil Armstrong
The Moon has a diameter of 2.000 miles (3.476 kilometres). The surface of the Moon has about the same area as the continent of Africa. The Moon rises and sets specific times. According to what phase it is in .The new Moon rises and sets at approximately the same times as the sun.
We always see the same side of the moon. The Moon always keeps the same side pointing towards us so we can never see the back of the Moon from the Earth. As the moon rotates around the earth it also rotates around its own axis at the same rate. This is why we always see the same side of the moon. A few days after new moon when there is just a very slim crescent you can sometimes see earthshine on the unilluminated portion of the Moon .Earthshine is caused by sunlight being reflected off the Earth and falling onto the Moon.
The Moon is a mystery because we do not know exactly where it came from. Before scientists began examining lunar rocks . They had several theories about hoe the Earth was young. It was spinning at such a high speed that it lost some of its molten form. This globule of lava solidified and became the Moon. the most popular theory today is that the Earth was young. It was hit by a Mars sized object. This immense collision sent a large amount of material into space. The material to form the Moon.
