MOON BROCHURE

MOON PHASES

• During the lunar month, the moon goes through all it's phases
• The phases we see result from the angle the moon makes with the sun as viewed from earth
• At the new moon, is lined up between the earth and the sun
• When the moon is exactly lined up with the sun we experience an eclipse
• As the moon moves eastward away from the sun, we see a bit more of the sunlit side of the moon each night

HOW IT AFFECTS THE EARTH

• It's position around the earth allows it to reflect the sun's light into our night
• As the earth rotates, the moon's pull causes the world's bodies of water to experience high tides

Size

The Earth's one natural satellite, the Moon, is more than one quarter the size of Earth itself (3,474 km diameter)

Distance from earth

238,900 (384,400 km)

ELEMENTS THAT MAKE UP THE MOON

• The surface of the moon has silica, alumina, iron oxide, magnesia, titanium dioxide
• The internal structure is iron, olivine, clinopyroxide, and orthopyroxene

LUNAR HISTORY

• The first moon landing was on July 20 1969
• Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were the first Americans on the moon
• 6 manned landings on the Moon Apollo's 11, 12, 14, 15,16, and 17

Fun facts

The moon (or Luna) is the Earth's only natural satellite and was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30-50 million years after the formation of the solar system. The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. The first unmanned mission to the moon was in 1959 by the Soviet Lunar Program with the first manned landing being Apollo 11 in 1969.

Rotational period

Because Earth is moving in its orbit around the Sun at the same time, it takes slightly longer for the Moon to show the same phase to Earth, which is about 29.5 days