If you thought you knew all there is to know about the moon, think again. Here are 10 cool facts about Earth’s lunar neighbor.
- The USA’s NASA Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was the first manned Moon landing.
The first person to set foot on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.
The far side of the Moon looks quite different due to its lack of maria (ancient pools of solidified lava).
The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite. A natural satellite is a space body that orbits a planet, a planet like object or an asteroid. - It is the fifth largest moon in the Solar System. Learn more about the other moons in the Solar System.
- The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384403 kilometres (238857 miles).
- The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.
- Mons Huygens is the tallest mountain on the Moon, it is 4700 metres tall, just over half the height of Mt Everest (8848m).
- The Moon rotates on its axis in around the same length of time it takes to orbit the Earth. This means that from Earth we only ever see around 60% of its surface (50% at any one time).
- The side that we can see from Earth is called the near side while the other side is called the far side (it is sometimes called the dark side despite the fact that it illuminated by the Sun just as much as the near side).
- When Neil Armstrong took that first historical step and said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” it would not have occurred to anyone that the step he took in the dust of the moon was there to stay. It will be there for millions of years because there is no wind on the moon. That is, assuming the downdraft from the Command Module upon takeoff back into space didn’t destroy the print. Buzz Aldrin reportedly saw the American flag, much further away, blow over during launch. Nevertheless, any footprints made by the famous astronauts undisturbed by takeoff are, in fact, there to stay.
- When Alan Sheppard was on the moon, he hit a golf ball and drove it 2,400 feet, nearly one half a mile.
In a survey conducted in 1988, 13% of those surveyed believed that the moon is made of cheese. - Mons Huygens is the tallest mountain on the Moon, it is 4700 metres tall, just over half the height of Mt Everest (8848m).
Fascinating fact of life 