Glowing like a silent guardian in the night sky, the moon is the fifth-largest satellite in the solar system and orbits Earth at an average distance of approximately 384,399 kilometres. With a diameter of about 3,474 kilometres—roughly one-quarter that of Earth—it exerts only one-sixth of our planet"s gravity. This is why astronauts famously bounce when they walk on its surface. The moon"s surface is mostly covered with rock and fine lunar dust, created by billions of years of impacts from meteoroids and micrometeorites. This powdery material, called regolith, gives the moon its grey, dusty appearance.
Photo of the moons surface through a telescope
Today in History
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Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand
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Pumpkins and squashes
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Huntington Beach Pier, California, USA
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Red-crowned crane
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Thomsons gazelles
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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA
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Tree frog on leaf
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Medieval towers in Mestia, Upper Svaneti, Georgia
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Red-and-green macaws, Brazil
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Colosseum, Rome, Italy
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Superbloom in Carrizo Plain National Monument, California, United States
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Castle Stalker, Argyll, Scotland
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Baia del Silenzio in Sestri Levante, Italy
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Bukhansan National Park, South Korea
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Veined octopus
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Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, USA
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Amazon rainforest, Brazil
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Dubrovnik, Croatia
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Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve, Australia
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Caribbean flamingos, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
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Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Ecuador
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Guanacos, Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina
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Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, United States
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Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA
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The citadel in Bonifacio, Southern Corsica, France
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Beech trees and anemone wildflowers, Jutland, Denmark
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Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
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Roques de Benet, Catalonia, Spain
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African elephants, Amboseli National Park, Kenya
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Nazca boobies
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