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Moon
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Moon

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Also known as The Moon, ☾, Luna, ☽, Earth I, Sol IIIa, Lua

The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth. It orbits around Earth at an average distance of , a distance roughly 30 times the width of Earth. It completes an orbit (lunar month) in relation to Earth and the Sun (synodically) every 29.5 days. The Moon and Earth are bound by gravitational attraction, which is stronger on the sides facing each other. The resulting tidal forces are the main driver of Earth's tides, and have pulled the Moon to always face Earth with the same near side. This tidal locking effectively synchronizes the Moon's rotation period (lunar day) to its orbital period (lu

OverviewAI-generated

The Moon is a planetary-mass regular moon in a high Earth orbit around its parent body, Earth. It is part of the Earth-Moon system and has an orbital eccentricity of 0.0567. Its semi-major axis is 384400, and it completes an orbital period of 27.321661. The object has an apparent magnitude of -12.74 and a radius of 1738.14. Its mass is 73.4767, with a flattening of 0.00125.

The Moon possesses an atmosphere, lunar soil, and the Montes Pyrenaeus. It exhibits a magnetic field and moonquakes. It was named after brightness and has existed for about 4527 million years. The Unicode characters ☾ and ☽ represent the subject. It is described by sources including the Bible Encyclopedia of Archimandrite Nicephorus and the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. The topic appears in the Commons category and gallery for Moon.

Synthesized by Vinony from 26 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubMed, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Wikipedia views (30d)

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Key facts

Planet.name
Moon
Planet.apsis
gee
Planet.symbol
24px|☾|class=skin-invert or 24px|☽|class=skin-invert
Planet.image
FullMoon2010.jpg
Planet.image_alt
Full Moon in the darkness of the night sky. It is patterned with a mix of light-tone regions and darker, irregular blotches, and scattered with varied circles surrounded by out-thrown rays of bright ejecta: impact craters.
Planet.caption
Near side of the Moon, lunar north pole at top
Planet.background
Thistle
Planet.mpc_name
Earth I
Planet.periapsis
 km(– km)
Planet.apoapsis
 km(– km)
Planet.mean_orbit_radius
(; 1/384 AU; )
Planet.semimajor
(; 1/389 AU; )
Planet.inclination
5.145° to the ecliptic
Planet.satellite_of
Earth
Planet.equatorial_radius
(0.2725 of Earth's)
Planet.polar_radius
(0.2731 of Earth's)
Planet.mean_radius
(0.2727 of Earth's)
Planet.circumference
(equatorial)

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

50,784 papers

via PubMed

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

57 sections
Contents
  • Names and etymology
  • Classification
  • Natural history
  • Formation
  • Natural development
  • Lunar geologic timescale
  • Future
  • Physical characteristics
  • Size and mass
  • Structure
  • Gravitational field
  • Magnetic field
  • Atmosphere
  • Surface conditions
  • Surface features
  • Volcanic features
  • Impact craters
  • Lunar swirls
  • Presence of water
  • Earth–Moon system
  • Orbit
  • Orbital center
  • Tidal effects
  • System evolution
  • Orientation and appearance
  • Rotation
  • Illumination and phases
  • Observational phenomena
  • Albedo and true color of the surface
  • Eclipses
  • Moon illusion
  • {{anchor|Exploration}} History of scientific understanding and exploration
  • Pre-telescopic observation (before 1609)
  • Telescopic exploration (1609–1959)
  • First missions to the Moon (1959–1976)
  • Moon Treaty and explorational absence (1976–1990)
  • Renewed exploration (1990–present)
  • Future
  • Human interaction and presence
  • Human impact
  • Astronomy from the Moon
  • Living on the Moon
  • Legal status
  • Coordination and regulation
  • In culture and life
  • Timekeeping
  • Cultural representation
  • Crescent
  • Other associations
  • Representation in modern culture
  • Lunar effect
  • See also
  • Explanatory notes
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links
  • Cartographic resources

Surface absorbed dose rate13.2 μGy/h (during lunar daytime) Surface equivalent dose rate57.0 μSv/h (during lunar daytime) Apparent magnitude −2.5 to −12.9 −12.74  (mean full moon)

Absolute magnitude (H) 0.2 Angular diameter 29.3 to 34.1 arcminutes Atmosphere Surface pressure 10 Pa (1 picobar)  (day) 10 Pa (1 femtobar)    (night)

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Moon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (53)

On the map

6 mapped locations

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