Known since prehistoric times, it is the brightest object in the sky after the sun The moon has four primary and four intermediate lunar phases during a lunar month Its name in english, like that of earth, is of germanic and old english derivation.
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Discover interesting facts about how the moon formed, what it's made out of, and the many missions humans have launched to explore it.
The earth and moon are tidally locked
Their rotations are so in sync we only see one side of the moon Humans didn't see the lunar far side until a soviet spacecraft flew past in 1959 The moon has a solid, rocky surface cratered and pitted from impacts by asteroids, meteorites, and comets. Space agencies around the world are planning moon missions that will depend on water ice for resources, but much remains unknown about its availability of water ice on the lunar surface.
We see the full moon when the sun is directly behind us, illuminating a full hemisphere of the moon when it is directly in front of us. Find the moon’s illumination, distance, and latitude for any time on any date
