The moon The moon is the only natural satellite of Earth. The moon orbits the Earth from 384,400 km and has an average speed of 3700 km per hour. It has a diameter of 3476 km, which is about ¼ that of the Earth and has a mass of 7.35e22 kg. The moon is the second brightest object in the sky after the sun. The gravitational forces between the Earth and the moon cause some interesting effects; tides are …showed first 75 words of 623 total…

…showed last 75 words of 623 total…to sunset time and strong moonlight almost all night if the sky is not clouded. The continuance of the moonlight after sunset is useful to farmers in northern latitudes, who are then harvesting their crops. The full moon following the harvest moon, which exhibits the same phenomena in a lesser degree, is called the hunter's moon. A similar phenomenon to the harvest moon is observed in southern latitudes at the spring equinox on about March 21.