Amazing Moon Facts

1. Scientists now think that the moon was formed when a Mars-sized object crashed into planet about 4.5 billion years ago. The collision was so large that a huge spray of material was ejected into space. The orbiting ring of debris gathered itself into a sphere, and formed the moon.

2. Although the orbit of the moon seems nice and stable, our only natural satellite is actually drifting away from us at rate of 4 centimetres a year. This is happening because of conservation of momentum in the orbit of earth.

3. The moon's mass is 7.35x1022kg, about 1/81 of the earth's mass.

4. The moon's gravitational force is only 17% of the Earth's gravity. for example , a 45kg person would be 7.6 kg on the moon. the moon density is 3340kg/m3.this is about 3/5 the density of earth.

5. The temperature of moon ranges from daytime highs of about 130 c =295 F to night time lows of about -110c=-170F

6. The moon has no atmosphere. On the moon, the sky is always appears dark , even on the bright side. Also, since sound waves travel through air, the moon is silent as no sound transmission on the moon.

7. You might know that tides on Earth are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. But it's not  the only thing pulling at the earths water, the sun is helping out too. This is why we get very high and low tides from time to time.