The Moon
The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite—a rocky, cratered body about one‑quarter the diameter of Earth, orbiting at an average distance of approximately 384,400 km. It influences tides, stabilizes Earth’s axial tilt, and was formed about 4.5 billion years ago following a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object.
Source: science.nasa.gov
APODs including "The Moon"
A Super Lunar Corona
12/11/2025
What are those colorful rings around the Moon? A corona. Rings like this will sometimes appear when the Moon is seen through thin clouds. The effect is created by the diffraction of light around individual, similarly-sized water droplets in an intervening but mostly transparent cloud. Since light of different colors has different wavelengths, each color diffracts differently. Lunar coronae are one of the few color diffraction effects that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. The featured image of a lunar corona was captured around last week's full Super Moon from near Knight's Ferry, California, USA. To the right of the full Moon is the giant orange star Botein. Similar coronae that form around the Sun are typically harder to see because of the Sun's great brightness.