Glowing like a silent guardian in the night sky, the moon is the fifth-largest satellite in the solar system and orbits Earth at an average distance of approximately 384,399 kilometres. With a diameter of about 3,474 kilometres—roughly one-quarter that of Earth—it exerts only one-sixth of our planet"s gravity. This is why astronauts famously bounce when they walk on its surface. The moon"s surface is mostly covered with rock and fine lunar dust, created by billions of years of impacts from meteoroids and micrometeorites. This powdery material, called regolith, gives the moon its grey, dusty appearance.
Photo of the moons surface through a telescope
Today in History
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Rolling hills of the Palouse, Washington, United States
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Arctic fox
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Thorny devil, Australia
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Dragons Eye, Uttakleiv Beach, Norway
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Heidelberg on the river Neckar, Germany
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Eurasian otters
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Humpback whales, Monterey Bay, California, United States
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Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada
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Colosseum, Rome, Italy
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Bengal tiger, India
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A herd of impalas
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Salt evaporation ponds on the island of Gozo, Malta
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Wood duck, Quebec, Canada
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Eurasian red squirrel
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El Capitan, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, USA
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Camel thorn trees, Namib-Naukluft Park, Namibia
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Ocean City, Maryland, USA
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Christmas lights at Mousehole harbour, Cornwall, England
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Library@orchard, Singapore
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Radcliffe Camera and All Souls College, University of Oxford, England
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Ring of Brodgar, Orkney, Scotland
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Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy
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Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil
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Point Reyes National Seashore
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Wood duck hen
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Starling murmuration, Brighton, England
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A pine forest in Alsace, France
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Spiral aloe, Kangaroo Island, Australia
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San Gimignano, Siena, Italy
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Natural arch carved in an iceberg, Antarctica
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

