The Moon

Of all the bodies in the sky the closest to us is the Moon. It is so close that we can see it clearly and photograph small details of its surface. It is the first heavenly body on which scientists on have successfully landed rockets and men. There seems to be something romantic abt the moon, for poets everywhere have written about it.

The Moon is much smaller than the earth, having a diameter of about 3200kms, compared with the earth's diameter of 12800kms. It is about 348,300kms away from us. It is called a satellite of the earth because it revolves round the earth and travels with the earth round the sun. It takes the moon about 29days to complete a revolution round the earth, That is, almost a month. Infact, the word, months comes from the word "Moon". The moon does not shine with its own light. Moonlight is actually sunlight reflected from the surface of the moon.

If you watch the moon regularly, you would notice that the shape of the sun lit part which you can see at night appears to change. These changes are known as phases of the Moon.

At the Crescent stage of a new moon, you only see light reflected from part of the surface of the moon. At the time of the full moon, you see light reflected from the full face of the moon.