Weird but True Facts About the Moon

In honor of the first moon landing, here are some weird but true facts about our closest celestial neighbor.

We’re living in a time where space exploration is at the forefront of scientific discovery and imagination.

It’s impossible not to be fascinated with stories about our solar system and beyond, whether it’s learning about what life on Mars might look like or how we can explore Jupiter’s moon Europa. One thing that often gets overlooked though is the moon!

In this blog post, we’ve compiled some of the weirdest and most interesting facts about our very own moon.

What Is the Moon?

The Moon is a celestial body that orbits Earth and it’s the fifth-largest natural satellite in our solar system. It has an orbit of about 384,000 km around the earth with its diameter being 3474.8 kilometers on average!

The moon was originally a “piece” of Earth that was knocked out into space 95 million years after the formation of our solar system.

Moons are common throughout the universe and are found orbiting many different planets. They’re sometimes called “natural satellites”

• We Only See the Same Face of The Moon

When the moon is in Earth’s night sky, we only see one side. This is because of a phenomenon known as tidal locking.

Tidal locking is a phenomenon that occurs when one object in orbit always faces the exact same side of another.

This can be seen with our moon, which has only ever had one face to look at and never changes its position from day to night because it’s locked on an orbital cycle around Earth.

The majority of the moons in our Solar System are tidally locked with their primaries because they orbit very closely, and tidal force increases rapidly when you get close.

• Moon’s Atmosphere: “Exosphere”

On the moon, there is a thin atmosphere known as the exosphere.

The exosphere is a small atmosphere-like volume that surrounds planets and satellites in space. This particular atmosphere has a very low density that the molecules are collisionless.

The moon’s exosphere contains a gas named Neon. Neon is a colorless gas that’s 2/3 as dense as air. It has no odor, and it doesn’t react with anything either, which makes it one of the least reactive elements in existence. It just floats around by itself without bothering anyone!

There are also other elements that have been detected by scientists in the lunar atmosphere. These include methane, carbon dioxide, argon-40, carbon monoxide, and more.

• Moon Helps the Earth More Than You Think

The moon is more than just a pretty sight in the sky! The moon has an apparent hand in shaping countless natural occurrences, and one of them happens to be Earth’s weather.

The effects can vary depending on how near or far from the full phase it appears at any given time; but even when not present during certain times of day, its gravitational pull still influences tides which have varying levels of impact on temperature as well as precipitation rates (among other things).

Its influence may seem small overall, yet without this incredible celestial body, our planet would look dramatically different!

The moon also has an enormous effect on the Earth’s polar temperatures.

• The Moon Is a Little More Than 1/4 of the Earth

The Moon is like a little sister to Earth. She’s just the right size for us so that we can look at her every night and know she’ll always be there in our sky, making sure nothing bad ever happens to us!

It is an amazing coincidence that the Moon is just about a quarter of Earth’s size.

There are a few other moons in our Solar System that have been studied to discover more weird facts, but most of them are too small and don’t compare too much with their primary celestial body.

Last Thoughts

The next time you look up at the moon, remember that it’s not just a big ball of rock. It has a whole lot more to offer us than we may have ever imagined.

The moon is one of the most important parts of our Earth and we should be grateful for her.

We hope you learned something new today about our ancient satellite and that you might want to share this article with your friends!