You see the moon on a daily basis, but how knowledgeable are you about Earth's only natural satellite? NASA's Common Moon Misconceptions page is setting the record straight about the moon. Here are a few common moon misconceptions:
False: The moon makes its own light.
True: The moon simply reflects light from the sun.
False: The moon travels around Earth every 24 hours.
True: It takes the moon 27.3 days to complete a revolution around our planet. It completes a full rotation on its axis in the same amount of time.
False: One side of the moon never sees light.
True: Because the moon constantly rotates, there is no "dark side" of the moon; there is simply a side we cannot see. It's more accurately referred to as the moon's "far side."
False: There's no gravity on the moon.
True: The moon does have gravity, but it's less than we're used to on Earth: about 1/6 of Earth's gravity!
Learn more about the moon on NASA's website.
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