Our Moon

We can see the moon when we look in the sky.

The moon is made of rock.

Sometimes it looks like a big round ball. This is called the full moon.

Sometimes it looks like half a circle.

Sometimes it looks like a thin slice.

The moon travels around the Earth

Our planet, Earth, has one natural satellite, the Moon. It is 384,400 km from Earth, and is the second brightest object in our sky after the Sun.

The Moon has had many names throughout history, including Luna (ancient Roman) and Artemis (ancient Greek). The dark marks we can see from Earth were once thought by the astronomer Galileo to be seas on the Moon, and even though we know there is no water on the Moon, the names have been kept.

The Moon does not have any atmosphere so gets much, much hotter and colder than Earth does. On the side of the Moon that the Sun shines on, temperatures can reach almost 127ºC. On the dark side, where the sunlight does not reach, temperatures are very cold, -128ºC. No atmosphere means no weather.

There is a gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon, which causes the ocean tides.

The Moon’s surface is rocky and dusty, pitted with craters caused by crashing meteors.The Moon orbits around the Earth. It takes nearly one month for the Moon to travel around the Earth. This movement around the Earth makes it look to us as if the Moon changes shape from a full round circle to a thin crescent. These are called the Phases of the Moon.

Sometimes the orbits of Earth and Moon coincide so that the Moon is directly in between the Earth and the Sun, blocking part of the Sun's light from the Earth. This is called a solar eclipse. On rare occasions, the Sun and the Moon are in a perfect line, which is called a total eclipse.

You can read about a solar eclipse on kidcyber here

Sometimes the orbits of the Sun and the Moon coincide so that the Earth is directly between the Sun and the Moon. The light from the Sun doesn't reach the Moon. This is a lunar eclipse. During the eclipse, we can see Earth's shadow on the Moon.

First Moon Landing
On 20 July 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Module landed on the surface of the Moon, in the Sea of Tranquillity. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first human to step onto the Moon, later joined by astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

This is the first human footstep on the Moon made by Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the Moon from the Lunar Landing Module

Click here to find out more about the Phases of the Moon:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/moon/phases.html

Click here to see an animation of eclipses.
http://www.kidseclipse.com/pages/a1b3c1d0.htm

Click here to find out some facts about our Moon:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/moon/facts.htm

If you use any part ot this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Our Moon [Online] Available: www.kidcyber.com.au (2009)

Back to Space

updated September 2009