Harvest moon, blue moon, full moon, crescent moon - there’s something romantic about the lovely Moon. And not just when it’s Noel Fielding with shaving cream on his face in the Mighty Boosh. Here are some staggering facts about our benevolent protector in the night sky.

1. The Moon isn’t a sphere
The Moon’s egg-shaped. When you look at it, you are actually looking at one of the small ends. And it’s wonky - its centre of mass is not right in the geometric centre, it’s 1.2 miles off the centre.



2. We’re never seeing all of it
At any one time we are only seeing 59% of the Moon. The remaining 41% can never be seen from Earth. And if you don’t believe us, if you went up to space and stood on the hidden 41% you wouldn’t be able to see the Earth!

3. The Blue Moon was the result of a volcano
The term ‘blue moon’ is believed to have originated in 1883 after the eruption of Krakatoa. So much dust floated in the atmosphere that when you looked at it, the Moon looked blue. Obviously this was so unusual the phrase “once in a blue moon” indicates something that happens very rarely.

4. Blowing up the Moon
The U.S. seriously contemplated detonating a nuclear weapon on the Moon. The idea was that this would be a show of strength that would allow the U.S. to flex its military muscle in front of the Russians and intimidate them into backing down. The secret project was named 'A Study of Lunar Research Flights’, or 'Project A119’.

5. Eclipse caused by a dragon
An ancient Chinese belief dictates that a solar eclipse was caused by a dragon swallowing the sun. In response, they made as much noise as possible during an eclipse to frighten the dragon away. They also believed that a huge toad lived on the Moon, sitting in a crater. The Moon’s craters are actually caused by space rocks bashing into it around 4.1 billion years ago.

6. The Moon is slowing us down
When the Moon is closest to Earth, what’s called its perigee, spring tides are higher. These are called perigean spring tides. Some of the rotational energy of the Earth is stolen by the Moon, and that is causing Earth to slow down by around 1.5 milliseconds every century.

7. The light of the Moon
The sun is 14 magnitudes brighter than the full moon. For a full moon to shine with the same brightness as the sun, you’d need 398,110 Moons. During a lunar eclipse when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, the surface temperature of the Moon can drop around 500 degrees Fahrenheit in less than 90 minutes.

8. Leonardo da Vinci realised what the crescent was
When the Moon appears as a crescent, what we’re seeing is sunlight illuminating a sliver of the Moon. The rest of the Moon is only very dimly visible depending on weather conditions. Leonardo da Vinci was the first recorded person to realise that the Moon was not shrinking and expanding, some of it was just hidden.

9. Naming the Moon
The International Astronomical Union names Moon craters, and all other astronomical objects. Moon craters are generally given the names of notable scientists, artists or explorers. The craters around the Apollo crater and the Mare Moscoviense are named after American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.


There’s so much we don’t know about the Moon. But we know more than these people: in a survey conducted in 1988, 13% of those surveyed by the Lowell Observatory of Flagstaff, Arizona, believed that the Moon was made of cheese. In 1988. We’ll just leave that there.

Evangkatsoulis:
Kingsango, what do you have to say about this?

KingSango:



All lies the Moon is a flaming light as is her twin the Sun. Sun-Go. You can't blow it up.


ASE

Love Sango

just2endowed:



Lol

KingSango:



Lol means love of Lucifer. The logo of Google is the seal of Lucifer. The tech guys at Google, in Suunyvale, CA used to promote this online until Lol became confused with meaning laughing but it's a salute to Lucifer.

Justice96:



I disagree with your claims lol means laughing out loud

KingSango:


Of course you would disagree because majority of Africans don't stand for justice today but the status quo. Even when told you are apart of something evil and sinister, due to no fault of your own, you refuse to retreat despite being warned.

Justice96:


Yes i still stand on my word because am not easily tossed Hecter sceter by the deception and philosophy of men, while i might agree with you on the injustice in Africa am totally disappointed in your level of inmaturity linking it to my name. I expect you to respond to my opinions without any means of insult, we have bigger problems than this so if u think you are just enough start from your manners because it cost less than lol and Google. Do you put on vasace designers? Well if you don't i do until i realized their logo represents the head of Medusa Greek female goddess so i stop. How many can you avoid, unless am wrong i guess you are using an android phone who owns Android? Is it not Google or can you tell me you have nothing in common with the company? even the Christmas, Newyear and birthdays you are celebrating are not of Christian origin if you do proper research. You should be worried about morals and ethics of the youths and risk of living in this dead country Nigeria with buried government not lol and Google ... Unless you are not in Nigeria

seunlayi:
Quite educative