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The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It orbits at an average distance of 384,400 km (238,900 mi), about 30 times the diameter of Earth. Tidal forces between Earth and the Moon have synchronized the Moon's orbital period (lunar month) with its rotation period at 29.5 Earth days, causing the same side of the Moon to always face Earth.
The instantaneous Earth–Moon distance, or distance to the Moon, is the distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Moon. In contrast, the Lunar distance ( LD or Δ ⊕ L {\textstyle \Delta _{\oplus L}} ), or Earth–Moon characteristic distance , is a unit of measure in astronomy .
The Moon's elongation is its angular distance east of the Sun at any time. At new moon, it is zero and the Moon is said to be in conjunction. At full moon, the elongation is 180° and it is said to be in opposition. In both cases, the Moon is in syzygy, that is, the Sun, Moon and Earth are nearly aligned.
Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander stands more than 6 feet tall and nearly 12 feet wide. Powered by three solar panels, the spacecraft is designed to stick the landing when it makes it to the moon ...
Comparison of angular diameter of the Sun, Moon and planets. To get a true representation of the sizes, view the image at a distance of 103 times the width of the "Moon: max." circle. For example, if this circle is 5 cm wide on your monitor, view it from 5.15 m away.
The orbits of the Moon and planets are integrated numerically along with the orientation of the Moon called physical libration. [23] At the Moon's surface, the beam is about 6.5 kilometers (4.0 mi) wide [24] [i] and scientists liken the task of aiming the beam to using a rifle to hit a moving dime 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) away. The reflected light ...
Dubbed the Blue Ghost, the trapezoidal spacecraft measures two meters high by 3.5 meters wide at its base, and is designed to carry 150 kg of payload to the lunar surface.
3.476 Mm – diameter of Earth's Moon; 3.643 Mm – diameter of Io, a moon of Jupiter; 4.821 Mm – diameter of Callisto, a moon of Jupiter; 4.879 Mm – diameter of Mercury; 5.150 Mm – diameter of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn; 5.262 Mm – diameter of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System; 6.371 Mm – radius of ...