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The Moon - Luna Information

The Moon: Facts and Figures

From NASA/JPL, for About.com

Earth's Moon - Luna

Earth's Moon - Luna

NASA
Discovered By
  • Known by the Ancients
Date of Discovery
  • Unknown
Average Distance from Earth
  • Metric: 384,400 km
  • English: 238,855 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 3.84400 x 105 km (0.00257 A.U.)
  • By Comparison: 0.00257 x Earth's Distance from the Sun
Perigee (closest)
  • Metric: 363,300 km
  • English: 225,700 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 3.633 x 105 km (0.00271 A.U.)
  • By Comparison: 0.00247 x Earth's Distance from the Sun
Apogee (farthest)
  • Metric: 405,500 km
  • English: 252,000 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 4.055 x 105 km (0.00243 A.U.)
  • By Comparison: 0.00267 x Earth's Distance from the Sun
Equatorial Radius
  • Metric: 1737.4 km
  • English: 1079.6 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 1.734 x 103 km
  • By Comparison: 0.2724 x Earth
Equatorial Circumference
  • Metric: 10,916 km
  • English: 6,783 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 1.0916 x 104 km
Volume
  • Metric: 21,970,000 km3
  • Scientific Notation: 2.197 x 1010 km3
  • By Comparison: 0.020 x Earth
Mass
  • Metric: 73,483,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
  • Scientific Notation: 7.3483 x 1022 kg
  • By Comparison: 0.0123 x Earth
Density
  • Metric: 3.341 g/cm3
  • By Comparison: 0.606 x Earth
Surface Area
  • Metric: 37,932,330 km2
  • English: 14,645,750 square miles
  • Scientific Notation: 3.793233 x 107 km2
  • By Comparison: 0.074 x Earth
Equatorial Surface Gravity
  • Metric: 1.622 m/s2
  • English: 5.322 ft/s2
  • By Comparison: 0.166 x Earth
Escape Velocity
  • Metric: 8,568 km/h
  • English: 5,324 mph
  • Scientific Notation: 2,380 m/s
  • By Comparison: 0.213 x Earth
Sidereal Rotation Period (Length of Day)
  • 27.321661 Earth days 655.72 hours
  • By Comparison: Syncrhonous With Earth
Sidereal Orbit Period (Length of Year)
  • 0.075 Earth years 27.321661 Earth days
  • By Comparison: Orbit Period = Rotation Period
Mean Orbit Velocity
  • Metric: 3,682.8 km/h
  • English: 2,288.4 mph
  • Scientific Notation: 1,023 m/s
  • By Comparison: 0.034 x Earth
Orbital Eccentricity
  • 0.05490
  • By Comparison: 3.285 x Earth
Orbital Inclination to Ecliptic
  • 5.145 degrees
  • By Comparison: Oscillates roughly 0.15 degrees in 173 days.
Equatorial Inclination to Orbit
  • 6.68 degrees
Orbital Circumference
  • Metric: 2,290,000 km
  • English: 1,423,000 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 2.290 x 106 km
Minimum/Maximum Surface Temperature
  • Metric: -233/123 °C
  • English: -387/253 °F
  • Scientific Notation: 40/396 K

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