Space is confusing. And while we’ve sent out robots and humans to explore it, there’s still so much we don’t know. However, we know a few weird facts about the moon that might surprise you. Besides the moon affecting our tides, what other weird facts about the moon are there that you don’t know about? Here is a list of a few crazy facts.
6. Slowly Moving Away
One of the weird facts about the moon is that it’s slowly driving away from us every year. The moon is approximately 3.8 centimeters away from the planet, and it’s supposed to do so for the next 50 billion years. By that time, the Moon will be taking around 47 days to orbit the Earth instead of the current 27.3 days. Since the moon controls our tides and protects us from asteroids, that’s not a lovely thought. However, we won’t be around when it actually becomes a problem.
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5. What Are Moonquakes?
Similar to earthquakes on Earth, our moon has moonquakes. These quakes are caused by the Earth’s gravitational pull. Notes say that the moonquakes occur several kilometers below the surface, resulting in cracks and ruptures. It’s also reported that this causes the moon’s crust to shift and change.
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4. The Surface of the Moon
We’ve all seen images of the surface of the moon, but one of the weird facts about the moon is what it’s covered in. The surface is blanketed in a layer of fine dust and rocky debris known as regolith, which gives it its distinctive gray and powdery appearance. The layer was formed thanks to billions of years of meteoroid impacts. But regolith isn’t ordinary dust, it’s composed of tiny glass beads formed by ancient volcanic activity and impact heat.
Also Read: Fascinating Facts About Mars
3. Moon’s Shadows
Astroanuts found when walking on the moon, it was found that the shadows of the moon are darker than on Earth. One of the many weird facts about the moon is how dark it really is. While it’s known that the dark side of the moon isn’t really a thing, it’s found that the shadows are intense due to the lack of atmosphere. Because Earth has an atmosphere, it scatters light, thus making shadows harder to see. But on the moon, it’s absent.
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2. The Earthshine Effect
When you look up at the moon at night, you’ll notice that the moon is illuminated. And most of the time, due to positioning, only part of the moon is illuminated. But along with that, you might notice a faint circle of the rest of the moon as well. This is caused by something called Earthshine. Just like moonlight is caused by the moon reflecting light from the sun, Earth also reflects that light towards the moon. This also means that only part of the Earth would appear bright if you were standing on the moon.
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1. A Unique Smell
While it’s known that the moon has no substantial atmosphere and no air, Apollo 11 astronauts were surprised to discover that there was a smell on the moon, which clung to their spacesuits, equipment, and the lunar samples they collected. When the astronauts were back in an environment with air again, they were able to smell this. They described it as a metallic smell, similar to burnt gunpowder or the smell in the air after a firecracker goes off. It’s said that the smell is a chemical reaction between something in lunar dust and the oxygen in the air.
