Astronomy

So, the Moon.

The Earth's Moon has no official name other than "the Moon", which can actually get quite confusing as the galaxy harbours many more moons than just the Earth's Moon. It is therefore sometimes also referred to as Luna (which is Latin for Moon) or Selene.

The Moon is a natural satellite that is in a synchronous rotation with the Earth. This means that one side of the Moon is permanently turned towards us ("the near side"). The other side of the Moon that we do not get to see is also called "the dark side" (doesn't this make you think of Nehelenia?). The Moon is one quarter the size of the Earth itself. Because of its smaller size, the Moon's gravity is one sixth of the Earth's gravity.

The Moon has no atmosphere, meaning there is no weather on it; temperatures on the Moon are crazy though. In the night you'll have to stand -173°C and during the day 100°C! Because of not having an atmosphere the Moon is also unprotected from solar winds.

The Moon's surface is covered in over 30 000 craters, the largest - South Pole-Aitken basin - being 2240 km in diameter O_O. The lunar plains are called maria (plural for mare). This is latin and translates to sea, as ancient astronomers believed these to be water-filled seas. One of the bigger maria is "Mare Serenitatis". According to the Sailor Moon manga the Moon Palace was located in this mare. The higlands of the Moon are called terrae.

The Moon doesn't actually produce its own light. The Moon only looks bright because it reflects the light from the Sun.

Source - Windows to the Universe, Wikipedia

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