10 Moon facts for kids

Ten things about our Moon, with NASA's numbers and dates from our own Moon table.

How it's ordered: From the numbers to the shapes to the dates.

It's about a quarter as wide as Earth. 3,475 km across, by NASA's fact sheet.
It's about 384,400 km away. On average. About thirty Earths would fit in the gap.
Its distance changes. The closest full Moon in our table is on 23 December 2026, about 356,729 km away.
A trip around Earth takes about a month. From new Moon to new Moon is about 29 and a half days.
We always see the same face. It spins once for every trip around Earth, so the same side always faces us.
It has no light of its own. Moonlight is sunlight bouncing off grey rock and dust.
A scale reads about a sixth. Gravity there is 0.165 of Earth's, so 60 pounds on Earth would read about 10.
It rises about 50 minutes later each day. That's why it's out in the afternoon some weeks and only late at night in others.
Twelve people have walked on it. All between 1969 and 1972. Their footprints are still there: there is no wind to blow them away.
It has eight named shapes. New, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, last quarter, waning crescent.

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“Lists are fun, but the best thing in the sky is the one you find yourself.”