The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth, and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. It is the largest natural satellite of a planet in the Solar System relative to the size of its primary, having 27% the diameter and 60% the density of Earth, resulting in ⁄81 its mass. The Moon is the second densest satellite after Io, a satellite of Jupiter.
All stories in Moon
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The Moon's surface is rusting — and Earth may be to blame
Dust on the Moon discovered by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft orbiting our planetary companion suggests complex interactions ...
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Hubble's first observation of a total lunar eclipse could help us find alien life
The Hubble Space Telescope set its sights on a total lunar eclipse, using the Moon as a mirror to study Earth. Here’s ...
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Newly discovered Moon metals make scientists rethink its origin story
How was the Moon formed? The most-widely-accepted theory suggests that billions of years ago, our young planet was ...
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Dear NASA, please put a particle collider on the Moon
NASA's current mission, to boldly go where no PR campaign has on behalf of Elon Musk's SpaceX, is a noble one. Donald Trump ...
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Should the moon be privatized? The US says yes
Private industries have helped drop the cost of launching rockets, satellites and other equipment into space to historic ...
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Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos compete to help NASA return humans to the moon
NASA has formally recruited tech billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to help its Artemis project return humans to the ...
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5 facts about the Apollo 13 movie — and how they actually happened in real life
On April 17 of 1970, the World held its breath when astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise, launched themselves ...
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Ingenuity saved Apollo 13 — it could save us from coronavirus as well
In 1970, the world stopped to root for the Apollo 13 crew. Entire families bunched around the TV, as thousands of people ...
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Research: Moon colonies could be (partially) built with human urine
Colonies on the Moon or Mars could, one day, be manufactured — in part — from using human urine. The waste we flush ...
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Trump calls dibs on outer space with his latest executive order
Donald Trump's latest executive order comes straight out of science fiction: He's officially called dibs on outer space. ...
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If a Japanese billionaire farted in front of you, what would you say?
This Japanese millionaire is in search of a girlfriend to accompany him on his trip to the moon. But applicants have one ...
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Scientists say Earth has two moons now
Astronomers from the Catalina Sky Survey yesterday announced they'd found a second natural satellite orbiting the Earth. ...
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What if we fuck up the Moon too?
US Vice President Mike Pence yesterday gave a speech at NASA's Langley research center in Virginia where he told employees ...
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5 Moon myths and how to debunk them yourself
This year’s first supermoon will potentially grace the sky on February 9. A supermoon is usually defined as the largest ...
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NASA wants the auto industry to build its next Moon rover
NASA earlier this week released an official contract inquiry seeking help from the automobile industry in designing a new ...
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New bill could kill NASA’s Moon base plans
The US House of Representatives recently proposed a bipartisan bill that would essentially tank NASA's plans to build a fully-functioning ...
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Barn owls reflect moonlight in order to stun their prey
Ecosystems that are bathed in light during the day change profoundly at night. As the sun fades from the land, nocturnal ...
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Building a moon base is a huge task — but these tiny satellites will pave the way
The space race between the US and Russia ended half a century ago when US astronauts became the first to walk on the moon. ...
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[Best of 2019] What the moon's craters reveal about the Earth's history
Most scientists believe the rate at which the moon and Earth have been bombarded by meteorites has remained constant for ...
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Moon rocks could help us resurrect extinct species???
Life is the last thing you would associate with the eternally dark craters of the lunar poles. But these craters could hold ...
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Why migrating to another planet is a stupid and implausible idea
Swiss astrophysicist Michel Mayor, whose work detecting exoplanets recently earned him a share in the Nobel prize for physics, ...
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Saturn declared most moonfluential planet after follower count reaches 82
A team of researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science recently announced the discovery of 20 new planets surrounding ...
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NASA releases 3D Moon map for visual artists
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been circling around the moon for almost a decade now. During this course, ...
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Elon Musk's plan for sending people to Mars is probably a suicide mission
Elon Musk is a Cancer. If he'd been born a week earlier, on June 21st instead of June 28th, he'd be a Gemini. And that ...
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Scientists came up with a reasonable plan to build an elevator to the Moon
It's not quite a “Stairway to Heaven,” but scientists have come up with what appears to be a perfectly feasible plan ...
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India's Chandrayaan-2 rocket launch is a success (Update: now in lunar orbit)
Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches Chandrayaan-2 lunar probe with GSLV MK-III, India‘s most powerful ...
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The Moonprentice: Newt Gingrich wants 'reality show' contest with Musk and Bezos to colonize Luna
A coalition including Michael Jackson's former publicist, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and an Air Force general want ...
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We're now polluting the moon with near indestructible little creatures
An Israeli spacecraft called Beresheet almost made it to the moon in April. It took a selfie with the lunar surface in the ...
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3D printing with moondust could be the key to setting up a colony on the moon
1The entire Apollo 11 mission to the moon took just eight days. If we ever want to build permanent bases on the moon, or ...
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Here's what we need to build our first moon base
Half a century after humans first walked on the moon, a number of private companies and nations are planning to build permanent ...
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Google used 107,000 solar panels to create a portrait of Apollo 11 pioneer Margaret Hamilton
To celebrate 50 years since NASA's moon landing mission, Google made a massive portrait of Apollo 11 pioneer Margaret Hamilton ...
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Here's why animals behave strangely during lunar and solar eclipses
For most animals, the structure of their day – and indeed their year – depends on the light-dark cycle. These regular ...
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Would your mobile phone be powerful enough to get you to the moon?
Many people who are old enough to have experienced the first moon landing will vividly remember what it was like watching ...
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We can thank the Apollo moon missions for these widely used technologies
NASA’s Apollo programme was one of the most challenging technological achievements in the 20th century. Beyond the space ...
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NASA is prepping a 2026 mission to Titan to find the origins of life
NASA yesterday announced details about its next major mission called Dragonfly, which aims to take a trip to Titan, Saturn's ...
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New analysis of 'moonquakes' indicates the moon isn't dead
We tend to think of the moon as the archetypal “dead” world. Not only is there no life, almost all its volcanic activity ...
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How did the moon end up where it is?
Nearly 50 years since man first walked on the moon, the human race is once more pushing forward with attempts to land on ...
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Here's why the crashed Israeli moon mission was still a tremendous contribution to science
It came so close. It even took a selfie. But with only a few kilometers left to descend, something went wrong and the spacecraft ...
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Here's why Israel's first moon landing ended in an awesome crash
Israel's first attempt at landing an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon today ended in a hard landing after an engine failure ...
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How realistic are China’s plans to colonize the moon?
The world is still celebrating the historic landing of China’s Chang’e-4 on the far side of the moon on January 3. Last ...
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Project A119: Inside the United States' secret plan to blow up the Moon
It was the height of the Cold War. At odds were the United States and the former Soviet Union, both attempting to posture ...
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Fascinating myths about the lunar eclipse from around the world
Millions of people will have the opportunity to see a lunar eclipse – an event popularly known in the media as a “blood ...
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A cotton seed sprouted - and died - on China's Lunar Lander
On Tuesday, Chinese media reported that one of the cotton seeds aboard the Chang’e 4 lunar lander sprouted, marking the ...
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China's moon landing could launch a new space race
China became the third country to land a probe on the Moon on January 2. But, more importantly, it became the first to do ...
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Full moon patents: Alphabet isn’t giving up on Google Glass
Ugh, the Gregorian calendar is so boring. That’s why we’re disrupting monthly series with a lunar cycle-based series ...
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SpaceX is flying a Japanese billionaire to the moon in 2023
Last week, SpaceX announced it had signed up its first passenger for a trip to the moon. It's now revealed who that is: Japanese ...
