25 Moon Facts For Kids

1. The phrase “the Moon” is a commonly used to describe Earth’s one and only natural satellite.
2. The reason Earth’s moon doesn’t have a unique name is because humans didn’t discover any other moons until 1610.
3. The Moon formed around 4.51 billion years ago, around 50 million years after the birth of our Solar System.
4. The Moon is believed to have been formed during a massive impact with a Mars-sized body (called Theia) and Earth.
5. The surface of the Moon covers over 14.6 million square miles.
6. The Moon completes a full orbit around Earth every 27.3 days.
7. The average the Moon’s orbit is from Earth is 238,900.
8. The farthest the Moon’s orbit gets to Earth is 225,309 miles.
9. The nearest the Moon’s orbit gets to Earth is 251,903 miles.
10. The average speed the Moon orbits Earth is 2,287 miles per hour.
11. The gravity on the Moon is only about 1/6th of the gravity on Earth.
12. The Moon is the fifth largest Moon in our Solar System.
13. The way the Moon looks from the surface of Earth depends on where it is relative to its orbit of Earth and Earth’s orbit of the Sun. This is known as the lunar phases. The lunar phases are new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter and waning crescent.
14. There are two sides of the Moon, the near side, and the far side.
15. The near side of the Moon is what is visible from Earth and the far side of the Moon is never visible from Earth.
16. The reason there is a near side and far side of the Moon is because Earth and the Moon are tidally locked.
17. The rise and fall of the sea levels on Earth are caused by the Moon’s gravitational pull, the Earth’s rotation, and the Sun.
18. Moonlight is the term used to describe the light produced by the Moon at night. The Moon cannot produce its own light, instead moonlight is created by light from the Sun being reflected off the Moon’s surface.
19. The first manmade object to fly near the Moon was the Luna 1 spacecraft. It was developed and operated by the Soviet Union and made its closest approach was on January 4th, 1959, at 3,725 miles.
20. The first hard landing of an object on the Moon was the Luna 2 spacecraft. It was developed and operated by the Soviet Union and made impact with the Moon’s surface on September 14th, 1959.
21. The first photograph of the far side of the Moon was completed by the Luna 3 spacecraft. It was developed and operated by the Soviet Union and took the first picture on October 7th, 1959.
22. The first soft landing of an object on the Moon was the Luna 9 spacecraft. It was developed and operated by the Soviet Union and successfully landed on the Moon’s surface on February 3rd, 1966.
23. The first successful crewed spacecraft to reach and orbit the Moon happened during the Apollo 8 mission. It was developed and operated by the United States of America. They reached the Moon’s orbit on December 21st, 1968.
24. The first successful attempt to land and walk on the Moon happened during the Apollo 11 mission. It was developed and operated by the United States of America. They successfully landed the first humans on the Moon on July 20th, 1969, and successfully walked on the Moon on July 21st, 1969.
25. The first remote controlled robotic lunar rover to land on the Moon was the Lunokhod 1. It was developed and operated by the Soviet and successfully landed on the Moon on November 17th, 1970.

Moon Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on the Moon. Below are twelve various pictures and diagrams of the Moon. These pictures should help you better understand Moon, the only natural satellite of Earth.

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