The moon is
the only satellite of the earth. It is a bright
object in the night sky. It does not have any
light of its own but reflects the light of the
sun. The moon is approximately 238000 miles away
from the earth and hence looks small. It takes
around twenty eight days to revolve around the
earth and approximately the same time to
complete one rotation. There is no atmosphere or
air on the moon. So, there are no life forms on
the moon.
The surface of the moon is rough and rugged.
There are mountains and craters on its surface.
Thus there are dark spots seen on the surface of
the moon. The force of gravity is weak on the
moon as compared to the earth; it is 1/6th of
the earth's gravity. The moon has its phases.
The days we see the complete moon, it is called
a full moon. A moonlit night on a full moon
night is really beautiful. Then it moves into
different phases until we arrive at the new
moon, where the moon cannot be seen in the night
sky. Another interesting fact is that we can see
only one side of the moon.
The moon also causes the high tide and low tide
to happen to water bodies such as seas and
oceans on the earth. The moon attracts the
earth; and when the earth gets attracted to the
moon, the water surfaces also get attracted and
swell up, which finally results in the high
tide. When the water subsequently recedes, it is
said to be a low tide.
Several countries had led expeditions to the
moon. The first people to land on the moon were
Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin. After that
several expeditions were made to the moon by
countries like Russia and USA. Indian explorers
are also thinking of landing on the moon. Thus
with the help of technology we may be able to
learn some more facts about the moon in the
future.