Earth’s moon, the only place beyond Earth that man has ever stepped on , is the fifth largest moon in the solar system and the brightest and largest object in our night sky.
These first brushstrokes on the Moon you may already know, as well as the fact that it also causes tides, for example, which have created a guide that has served humans for thousands of years.
The fact that it is simply called the Moon, even though we know that there are many, many more, is precisely because when it was discovered in the sky, the fact that other moons existed was unknown. It wasn’t until 1610 when the well-known Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei observed four moons orbiting Jupiter that we realized that detail. Be that as it may, our Moon continues to represent the only natural satellite that our blue planet has.
Interesting facts about the Moon:
It is located at an average distance from Earth of 238,855 | 384,400 kilometers
Its period of rotation and orbit: 27.32 Earth days
Equatorial Radius: 1,737.5 kilometers
Mass in kilograms: 7.35 x 10 ^ 22 (0.0123 of Earth)
Gravity: 0.166 of the Earth (If you weigh 45 kilograms on Earth, you weigh 7.5 kilograms on the Moon)
Temperature range: -248 to 123 ºC
Regarding its size, the Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun; however, it is 400 times closer to Earth, hence the apparent size of both bodies seen from Earth is practically the same.
Among other things, changing the position of the Moon with respect to the Sun gives rise to the phases of the Moon. When the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, we cannot see the Moon, hence this phase is called the New Moon. When the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, the part of the Moon closest to the Earth is half illuminated, hence we call this phase Full Moon. Finally, when the Moon is in intermediate positions, we see only a quarter of the Moon, hence we extract the waxing or waning phase, depending on whether the illuminated part visible from the Earth tends to grow or shrink.
If you want to know other curiosities about the Moon, do not miss this gallery.
