Today’s moon is a fascinating celestial body with several key facts worth noting. According to the article “Interesting Facts About The Moon” on Universe Today, the moon is Earth’s only natural satellite. It is a rocky, airless body with a cratered surface, formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago. The moon is about one-quarter the size of Earth, with a diameter of approximately 2,159 miles.
The moon’s orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle, which causes the distance between the two bodies to vary. At its closest point, known as perigee, the moon is about 225,622 miles away from Earth. At its farthest point, known as apogee, the moon is about 252,088 miles away from Earth. The moon takes approximately 27.3 days to complete one orbit around our planet.
The moon’s surface is covered in craters, which were formed by asteroid and comet impacts over billions of years. The largest crater on the moon is the Aitken Basin, which has a diameter of approximately 2,500 kilometers. The moon’s gravity is only about one-sixth of Earth’s, which is why astronauts can jump higher on the moon than they can on our planet.