Contains:  Solar system body or event
Moon, autonm

Moon

Moon, autonm

Moon

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Description

Newcastle, UK

Single - 1/640s exposure

Moon (Earth)

 At about one-quarter the diameter of Earth it is the largest natural satellite in the Solar System relative to the size of its planet.

Orbiting Earth at an average distance of 384,400 km (238,900 mi) or about 30 times Earth's diameter, its gravitational influence slightly lengthens Earth's day and is the main driver of Earth's tides.

The Moon is classified as a planetary-mass object and a differentiated rocky body, and lacks any significant atmosphere, hydrosphere, or magnetic field. Its surface gravity is about one-sixth of Earth's (0.1654 g).

The most widely accepted origin explanation posits that the Moon formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth, out of the debris from a giant impact between the planet and a hypothesized Mars-sized body called Theia. It then receded to a wider orbit because of tidal interaction with the Earth.

The near side of the Moon is marked by dark volcanic maria ("seas"), which fill the spaces between bright ancient crustal highlands and prominent impact craters.

Most of the large impact basins and mare surfaces were in place by the end of the Imbrian period, some three billion years ago.

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Moon, autonm