Facts About the Moon


Fascinating Facts About the Moon 🌝 + Moon FAQs

There are facts about the moon you probably know because the moon has featured in so many myths and legends throughout history. Eclipses of the sun and the moon and super moons are also popular mainstream news items.

Staring at the moon was historically said to send you mad. People went to great lengths to prevent the moon shining on their faces while they slept. Lunar is the adjective relating to the Moon from which the word lunatic, for mentally ill people, and moonstruck are derived. As recently as 1700, people still believed the Moon caused fever, epilepsy and other illnesses. In 2012 President Obama finally put a stop to this lunacy, at least in the US, by removing the term lunatic from laws. The B&W image of a Blood moon above was taken by Al Goold Photography on 14th April 2014.

  • Fascinating facts about the moon compiled by Robert Junker and last updated 18 Aug 2024.
Facts about the Moon 🌚 Data, Figures and other Facts about the Moon
How was the moon formed? About 4.5 billion years ago, primordial Earth collided with a celestial body roughly the size of Mars. As a result matter from the earth’s crust was thrown into orbit which then formed the moon.
What’s the diameter of the moon? The diameter of the moon is approximately 2160 miles (3476 km) in diameter, which is around 27.2% of the Earth’s diameter.
What’s the relative size of the moon? The moon is the 14th largest object in our solar system. It’s the fifth largest moon after Ganymede (Jupiter III), Titan (Saturn VI), Callisto (Jupiter IV) and Io (Jupiter I).
How heavy is the moon? Our moon weighs 81 billion tons (7.35 x 1022 kg) and ranks fifth in the solar system behind  Ganymede, Titan, Callisto and Io.
What’s the density of the moon? The density of the moon is 3.34 g/cm3 (0.121 lbs/in3) compared to Earth’s 5.5 g/cm3 (0.199 lbs/in3). The moon is second only to Jupiter’s Io 3.53g/cm3 which has the highest surface gravity of all moons in the solar system.
What is the volume of the moon? The volume of the moon is around 21.958 km3, which is 2.03% of Earth’s volume.
What’s the surface area of the moon? The surface area of the moon is 37,930,000 km2 (14,644,855 million square miles) which is 7.4% of Earth’s surface area.
What color is the moon? Despite appearing white from the Earth the surface of the moon is mostly dark gray.
What are the physical characteristics of the moon? The moon features large dark plains known as Maria, from Mare – sea in Latin and large craters up to 4500m (15,000 feet ) deep, mostly as a result of impact from space rubble.
What’s the surface composition of the moon? 43% Oxygen (compared to 30% on Earth), 20% Silicon, 19% Magnesium, 10% Iron, 3& Calcium, 3% Aluminum, 0.42% Chromium, 0.18% Titanium and 0.12% Manganese.
What influence does the moon have on planet Earth? The gravity of the moon causes the oceans to rise or fall by roughly 6ft (2 meters).
How far is the mono from the Earth? The mean distance of the moon from the Earth is 226,000 miles (365,000 km).
What’s the orbital period of the moon? It takes the moon 27.3217 days to orbit around Earth.
How fast does the moon travel around the Earth? On average the orbital speed of the moon is 2290 mph (3680 km/s).
How fast does the moon rotate? The moon rotates at 10 mph (16 km/h) compared to 1000 mph (1609 km/h) on Earth.
Does the moon have a magnetic field? The moon has a magnetic field between 100 and 1000 times weaker than Earth’s magnetic field.
What’s the temperature on the sunny side of the moon? During the day the temperature on the moon can get up to around 123 °C (253 °F). The moon gets hot because the gravity on the moon is too weak to retain any gases.
What’s the temperature dark side of the moon? During the night the temperature on the moon can get down to around -173 °C (-280 °F).
How strong is the gravitational pull of the moon? Our moon’s gravity is approximately 1/6th of Earth’s gravity – second only to Jupiter’s Io moon, which has the highest surface gravity of all moons in the solar system.
What is the dark side of the moon? The dark side of the moon is the far side of the moon which faces away from the Earth. It’s no darker that the near side of the moon, which faces the Earth, we just can’t see it from Earth. The dark side of the moon was first photographed in 1959 by the Russian Lunik III spacecraft.
What’s a New moon? A new moon is observed when when the moon is between the Sun and the Earth.
What’s a full moon? A full moon is observed when the Earth is between the Sun and the moon.
What’s a Blood moon? When the moon appears reddish or copper color it’s often called a “blood moon” and was used to describe the April 2014 lunar tetrad which means four successive total lunar eclipses, with no partial eclipses in between, each separated by six full moons (six lunar months).
What’s a Harvest moon? A harvest moon is the full moon nearest to the autumnal equinox – used by farmers to gather in the harvest and marks the start of Fall in the northern hemisphere.
How many people have walked on the moon? 12 astronauts (exclusively male US Americans) have walked on the moon as part of six Apollo missions.
Who was the first person to walk on the moon?
 Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) was the first person to walk on the moon on July 21, 1969.
Who was the second person to walk on the moon? The second person to walk on the surface of the moon was Buzz Aldrin.
Who was the last person to walk on the moon?
 Eugene Cernan was the last person to leave the moon on December 14, 1972.

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