Look up at the sky, what do you see? Stars most likely, but what about the Moon? To some, seeing the moon in the sky has become a stale sight for the eyes. When you see it every day, it becomes rather boring to look at. All the focus is stolen by the bright dots of stars, but don’t underestimate the Moon. There are some awesome facts about the Moon that you might not know. Sure, it’s in the sky, but this one fact about the moon is just that — one fact. There is plenty to learn about this cosmic body that rotates around the Earth!
Who’s rocky and big? No, not the protagonist of Rocky, but rather our one and only Moon. This lump of rock that brings in the joy of night every day is one of the coolest things in our sky. A lot of interesting facts about the Moon focus more on the scientific side about the Moon. After all, we humans like to explore things. We pushed ourselves so much that we even landed on it. But there are a lot of cool facts about the Moon that we can learn, based more on the creative side. The Moon is said to change emotions based on its phases and waves because of its pull. Our Moon is also as pretty as a picture; some photographers capture its beauty by taking stunning supermoon photos. Of course, there are also some strange facts about the Moon, but give it some slack — it’s our only natural satellite in the sky!
Now, you might just know the crumbs of the fun facts about the Moon that there is to learn. It’s just like Earth — interesting and deep. But why spend time looking for singular facts, when you can have it all here? With the list we created below, not only will you enhance your knowledge of our rocky friend in the sky, but you might also find some interesting talking points to share with others. If a fact piqued your interest, upvote it for others to see. But if you have something to add, be sure to leave a comment.
#1
The Moon is moving approximately 3.8 cm away from our planet every year.
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14points
#2
The Moon actually has its own time zone called Lunar Standard Time (LST).
A lunar year consists of 12 days. This may sound like a short year, but each lunar day consists of 29.5 Earth days, so a lunar year is very similar to its Earth equivalent.
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#3
Shadows appear darker on the Moon than they do on Earth.
This is because there is very thin atmosphere on the Moon, so light fragments cannot be refracted to cast shadows that create much contrast.
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13points
#4
The diameter of Australia is 600 km wider than the diameter of the Moon.
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12points
#5
The Moon has quakes too.
They're called moonquakes. They are caused by the gravitational influence of the Earth and last only a few minutes.
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11points
#6
Moon's surface temperatures reach boiling point.
Temperature can span from 123 degrees Celsius to -233 degrees Celsius.
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11points
#7
A lunar eclipse saved Christopher Columbus from starvation.
On February 29, 1504, Columbus utilized a lunar eclipse to scare the local Arawak Indians on the island of Jamaica into providing food for him and his crew. His son Ferdinand claimed that when the Arawaks saw the eclipse, they ran hysterically and wailing from all directions to the ships carrying supplies.
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#8
There are important resources on the Moon.
These resources include hydrogen, which can be used to propel rockets; water ice, which can be split into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel and helium-3, a non-radioactive helium isotope that could potentially be used to provide nuclear energy in the future.
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#9
The Moon is a bit of a garbage site.
With so many NASA trips to the Moon, plenty of waste has been left behind. This includes lunar rovers, science equipment, golf balls, and even human feces.
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#10
While nations have signed peace treaties to prevent wars on Earth, many have joined the Outer Space Peace Treaty to keep the Moon from ever devolving into a war zone.
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#11
Birds use the Moon as a map to navigate their flight paths during migration season.
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#12
Many people still think that the Moon landing in 1969 was a hoax.
The skeptics claim that no stars can be seen in the background of the astronauts' images from the moon. Buzz Aldrin, the second astronaut to walk on the Moon, punched a conspiracy theorist in the face when he confronted him and called him a liar.
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#13
The giant-Impact hypothesis states that the moon was created when a rock the size of Mars slammed into Earth, shortly after the solar system began forming about 4.5 billion years ago.
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#14
Lunar research bases are soon to come.
“Although we are centuries off large numbers of people living on the Moon, it is possible we could soon have scientific bases there, similar to Antarctic research stations,” explained Robert Massey, the deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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#15
The dark side of the moon is a myth.
In reality both sides of the Moon see the same amount of sunlight however only one face of the Moon is ever seen from Earth. This is because the Moon rotates around on its own axis in exactly the same time it takes to orbit the Earth. The side facing away from Earth has only been seen by the human eye from spacecraft.
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#16
The Moon is shrinking and that causes moonquakes.
Its diameter has reduced by more than 50 meters over the last several hundred million years. It starts getting wrinkles as it shrinks down, but the Moon’s surface is not flexible, so the shrinking causes “thrust faults” where one section of the crust gets pushed up over a neighboring part.
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#18
The Moon may appear to be a perfect spherical orb, but in reality it is more like a lemon.
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#19
Without the Moon, the Earth would rotate much faster, resulting in 100 miles an hour winds and 8-hour days
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#20
Gothic tales have been inspired by the mystery and eeriness of the full moon for centuries.
The first mention of a werewolf can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh, written in 2100 B.C. The curse suggests that anyone bitten by this mythical creature will also become one and transform into a half-man, half-wolf beast on the night of a full moon.
10points