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what's up for July this month NASA is

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celebrating the 50th anniversary of the

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Apollo 11 mission making the first human

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landing on the moon while looking

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forward to the future of lunar

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exploration so this month a special

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edition of what's up here are 5 things

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about the Moon that you can share with

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others when you're gazing up at our

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natural satellite how far away is the

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moon the moon is farther away from Earth

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than people often think a good ballpark

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number to remember is that the moon is

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about a quarter of a million miles away

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or about 400,000 kilometers it's such a

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big gap that you could just about fit

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the other seven major planets into the

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space between the two worlds astronauts

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from three of the Apollo missions

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including Apollo 11 placed special

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reflectors on the lunar surface that are

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still used to determine the moon's

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distance with extreme precision in fact

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they've revealed that the moon is moving

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away from Earth by about an inch and a

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half per year how big is the moon this

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one's another easy approximation to

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remember the moon is about one-fourth

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the size of Earth in diameter

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it's about as wide as the United States

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what color is the moon the moon doesn't

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emit its own light it reflects light

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from the Sun and up close the moon's

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surface is mostly grey like old

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well-worn asphalt why do we always see

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the same side of the Moon now it may not

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look like it but the moon really does

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rotate on its axis much like Earth we

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always see essentially the same face of

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the moon because it orbits around Earth

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in the same amount of time it takes to

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rotate the reason is related to gravity

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and the same forces that cause daily

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ocean tides a side note is that since

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it's rotating there really is no

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permanent dark side of the Moon the

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changing phases of the Moon demonstrate

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how the portion of its surface that's

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lit by the Sun revolves around the moon

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every month over the course of the lunar

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day what are the dark areas on the moon

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one of the main things you notice when

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observing the moon is that it has these

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bright and dark areas across its surface

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everybody's familiar with the man in the

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moon right the dark areas are known as

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moire the Latin word for seas the lunar

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Mari are volcanic basins created in the

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aftermath of ancient impacts billions of

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years ago after the impact the craters

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filled with lava which eventually cooled

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to form smooth dark plains one of the

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most famous moiré is the Sea of

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Tranquility this was the landing site

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chosen for Apollo 11 in part because it

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was fairly smooth and level to locate

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the Sea of Tranquility look for these

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two large dark markings that overlap if

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you're facing south they will be on the

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moon's right side tranquility is the

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lower of the two and the Apollo 11

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landing site is right here 50 years on

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NASA continues to reveal the moon's

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secrets with an eye towards sending the

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next human astronauts there in the near

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future

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you can learn more about Apollo and

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NASA's future plans for the moon at

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nasa.gov I'm Preston dykes from NASA's

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory and that's