The Moon is Earth’s only natural companion, a satellite. Moon rotates around Earth, but there are also a lot of small man-made objects, such as weather and communication satellites and old spacecraft parts – space debris. The moon has circled the earth billions of years, but not always. When people were up there in the 70s, they brought back rock samples, that have launched a theory that another planet collided with the young Earth, and the remaining pieces formed the moon. However, this theory is not the only one.

The moon reflects the sun light, and is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun. The moon appears to be yellow, but it is actually gray and cold stone ball. Moon in the night sky has always been a fascinating destination for people. The different phases of the moon, full moon, crescent etc. depend on how the Earth’s shadow covers the moon at different times of the month. Month is the time it takes moon to circumvent the Earth.

Many other solar system planets have moons – usually more than one. Moons of other planets have different names, such as the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos. Earth’s moon, however, has no other name. Moon strongly influences life on Earth. Eg. Ocean tides are due to lunar gravity.

In the old days people imagined seeing oceans and cities on moon. It was believed that the moon is home to the moon people. Really the moon is a pretty empty place. There are only a few rocks, spacecraft parts and some equipment, like Lunar Roving Vehicles used by the astronauts. Cars could not be taken back, so they were left on the moon forever. In addition there are few American flags and golf balls that the astronauts struck while visiting .