The moon is the only satellite of the earth. It is a bright object in the night sky. It does not have any light of its own but reflects the light of the sun. The moon is approximately 238000 miles away from the earth and hence looks small. It takes around twenty eight days to revolve around the earth and approximately the same time to complete one rotation. There is no atmosphere or air on the moon. So, there are no life forms on the moon.

The surface of the moon is rough and rugged. There are mountains and craters on its surface. Thus there are dark spots seen on the surface of the moon. The force of gravity is weak on the moon as compared to the earth; it is 1/6th of the earth's gravity. The moon has its phases. The days we see the complete moon, it is called a full moon. A moonlit night on a full moon night is really beautiful. Then it moves into different phases until we arrive at the new moon, where the moon cannot be seen in the night sky. Another interesting fact is that we can see only one side of the moon.

The moon also causes the high tide and low tide to happen to water bodies such as seas and oceans on the earth. The moon attracts the earth; and when the earth gets attracted to the moon, the water surfaces also get attracted and swell up, which finally results in the high tide. When the water subsequently recedes, it is said to be a low tide.

Several countries had led expeditions to the moon. The first people to land on the moon were Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin. After that several expeditions were made to the moon by countries like Russia and USA. Indian explorers are also thinking of landing on the moon. Thus with the help of technology we may be able to learn some more facts about the moon in the future.
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