Look up

When I ran/walked 10 miles every day in July, I started in the dark. Throughout the month, I watched the Moon travel across the sky and grow and wane. It was fun to observe its path as I put one foot in front of the other day after day.

Most people don’t notice the Moon. We always know it’s there, even when we can’t see it. September 26 is International Observe the Moon Night, so it’s a great time to learn about our only satellite.

Nasa has a great website for this event. I liked the 10 Ways to Observe the Moon list, starting with looking up. 

In honor of the event, I went looking for fun lunar facts. It might be an every night object in the sky, but it’s also a fascinating astronomical body.

Moon Facts

• The Moon is a natural satellite. Satellites are bodies that orbit planets, planet-like objects, or asteroids.
• The Moon is the fifth largest moon in the solar system.
• The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 238,857 miles.
• The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.
• The length of time it takes the Moon to rotate on its axis is about the same as the time it takes to orbit the Earth. That is why we see only 60% (50% at one time) of the surface of the Moon (the near side.)
• The part of the Moon we can’t see (the far side) is not dark. It gets as much sunlight as the near side.
• During a Moon day, it can get up to 225 F, while at night, it can drop to -243 F.