The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite. It moves around Earth and is much smaller than Earth.

Size and Distance

• It's about 3,474 km wide.

• It's about 384,400 km away from Earth.

• It’s about 1/4 the size of Earth.

Surface and Features

• The Moon has no air, no water, and no weather.

• Its surface is full of craters, made by things crashing into it long ago.

• There are dark areas called maria (“seas”), which are flat plains from old lava flows.

Gravity

• The Moon has less gravity than Earth — only about 1/6 as strong.

• That means if you weigh 60 kg on Earth, you’d weigh just 10 kg on the Moon.

Moon Phases

The Moon looks different every few days. These changes are called phases:

1. New Moon

2. Crescent

3. Half Moon (First Quarter)

4. Gibbous

5. Full Moon

6. Then it goes back in reverse.

Tides

The Moon’s gravity pulls on Earth’s water. That causes ocean tides to rise and fall.

Moon’s Rotation

• It takes the Moon about 27 days to go around Earth.

• It also spins once in the same time.

• Because of this, we only see one side of the Moon from Earth.

Moon Landings

• In 1969, humans first landed on the Moon (Apollo 11).

• In 2023, India’s Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon’s south pole.

my note

i learned that moon is the reason the water becomes more deep