EARTH'S MOON


photo - moon

The Moon is the brightest light in our night sky.
It looks so big and bright because it is so close to us,
compared to the stars and planets.
It is about 384,000 km. away.

moon

The Moon does not look like Earth.
There are no rivers, lakes,or oceans.
There are no plants growing.
No people or animals ever lived there.
There is no wind on the moon.
The Moon has no atmosphere.



It takes one month for the Moon to travel around Earth.
As it does this the Moon seems to change shape, but it doesn't.
The different shapes we see are called the phases of the Moon.
What we see are different amounts of light being reflected on the Moon.
This all depends on the positions of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.

phases


A lunar eclipse happens when the Sun,
Earth and Moon are exactly lined up.
The Earth blocks off the sunlight so the
Moon is not able to reflect any light.
A lunar eclipse can last over three hours.

eclipse


Most astronomers and scientists think our moon
was formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
Something may have hit the earth.
Rocks may have split off and one of
these rocks may have formed the Moon.

moon


The Moon's pull, called gravity, affects the oceans.
This pull is strong enough to cause tides.
Tides are the daily rising and falling of the ocean waters.
High tide and low tide happen about every 13 hours.

ocean


Here are my other web pages about the Moon

||EXPLORING THE MOON || ON THE MOON ||

smiling moon

SPACE INDEX


web page by J.Giannetta

1999 (updated 2005)