The Moon: Only natural satellite of the earth

The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite and the fifth largest moon in the solar system. The Moon’s presence helps stabilize our planet’s wobble and moderate our climate.

The Moon’s distance from Earth is about 240,000 miles (385,000km). The Moon has a very thin atmosphere called an exosphere.

The Moon’s surface is cratered and pitted from comet and asteroid impacts. In 1838, Sir George Darwin suggested that initially, the earth and the moon formed a single rapidly rotating body.

The whole mass became a dumb-bell-shaped body and eventually it broke. It was also suggested that the material forming the moon was separated from what we have at present the depression occupied by the Pacific Ocean.

The brightest and largest object in our night sky, the Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet’s wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate.

It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years. The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth.

Earth’s Moon is the fifth largest of the 200+ moons orbiting planets in our solar system.