Moon
Earth's only natural satellite.
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, orbiting at an average distance of 384,399 km. It is tidally locked, so the same side always faces Earth, and its pull is the main driver of Earth's tides. It completes a cycle of phases every 29.5 days.
It is 3,474 km across, about a quarter of Earth's diameter, with 1.2% of Earth's mass and about a sixth of its surface gravity. It is the fifth-largest moon in the Solar System and the largest relative to its planet.
Quick Facts
- Periapsis
- 362, 600 km (356, 400–370, 400 km / 249 mi)
- Apoapsis
- 405, 400 km (404, 000–406, 700 km / 435 mi)
- Inclination
- 5.145° to the ecliptic
- Satellite of
- Earth
- Flattening
- 0.0012
- Surface gravity
- 1.622 m/s2; 1.622 m/s2
- Moment of inertia factor
- 0.3929, 0.0009
- Escape velocity
- 2.38 km/s
More in Celestial Bodies & Worlds
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