Page 173 - DK Children's Encyclopedia
P. 173

Moon                                                                              SEE ALSO

                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Asteroids  p.30
                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Atmosphere  p.33
           The moon is a round, rocky, airless “body” that circles                             ▸ ▸ Comets  p.68
           the Earth. It is the most familiar object in the sky after                          ▸ ▸ Earth  p.83
           the sun. People have visited the moon, but not                                      ▸ ▸ Solar system

           since 1972.                                                                          p.233
                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Tides  p.254



                                                                         Rocky body
                                                                           The moon is large and rocky
                                                                              with a dusty, airless surface.
                                                                               It is about one-quarter the
                                                                                 width of the Earth.


















                                                                                        Man on the moon
                                                                                        The moon is the only object in
                                                                                        the solar system that has been
                                                                                        visited by humans. American
                                                                                        Apollo space missions landed 12
       The dark                                                                         people on the moon between
       areas are                                                                        1969 and 1972.
       where there
       used to be seas
       of liquid rock.

                                                                The moon’s surface is    Moon creation
       Moon’s orbit                                             covered with pits left    Scientists think the moon was
                                                                                         created when a small planet, Theia,
       The moon travels around                                  by space rocks that      crashed into the Earth 4.5 billion
                                                                crashed into it.
       the Earth. This is called an                                                      years ago. As a result, rocks on the
       orbit. The moon takes 27.3                                                        moon are similar to rocks on Earth.
       days to make its orbit
       around our planet.


                                                                               Moon


                                                           We always see the
                                                           same side of the
           The shape of the moon’s orbit    Earth          moon facing Earth.
           is a slightly squashed circle.

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   US_171_Moon.indd   171                                                                                        16/05/2017   09:49
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