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The Moon is the largest natural satellite of and the closest major astronomical object to Earth. The Moon may be observed by using a variety of optical instruments, ranging from the naked eye to large telescopes. The Moon is the only celestial body upon which surface features can be discerned with the unaided eyes of most people.
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 near side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces towards Earth, opposite to the far side. Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth—a situation known as tidal locking .
The Artemis program has dealt with numerous delays, and now isn't expected to land humans on the Moon until 2025 or 2026. NASA originally hoped for a lunar landing in 2024. NASA originally hoped ...
At night under a "full Earth" the near side of the Moon receives on the order of 10 lux of illumination (about what a city sidewalk under streetlights gets; this is 34 times more light than is received on Earth under a full Moon) whereas the far side of the Moon during the lunar night receives only about 0.001 lux of starlight. [12]
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar module returned to Earth Tuesday, completing its historic mission to collect the first ever samples from the far side of the moon in a major step forward for the ...
This weekend brings a chance to view November’s full moon, 2024’s last supermoon, followed by the Leonid meteor shower that’s set to peak Saturday night into Sunday.
The distance to the moon was measured by means of radar first in 1946 as part of Project Diana. [44] Later, an experiment was conducted in 1957 at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory that used the echo from radar signals to determine the Earth-Moon distance. Radar pulses lasting 2 μs were broadcast from a 50-foot (15 m) diameter radio dish ...