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Earth's Moon: Facts & Figures
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 (0.00243 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 (0.00271 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: 21,970,000,000 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: Synchronous 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

Additional Information:

Because of the gravitational pull of the Sun, the extreme ranges of the Moon from the Earth are from 356,400 km to 406,700 km.
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