The Moon is our nearest planetary neighbor, orbiting the Earth every 27 days. It’s held by Earth’s gravity, although it gets about an inch and a half farther away every year. When first formed, about 4.5 billion years ago, the Moon was about 10 times closer to Earth, affecting the planet’s spin so much that a day on Earth back then was only about 4 hours long. The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite and the largest satellite in our solar system, relative to the size of its planet, and the fifth largest overall with a diameter of 2,159.2 miles (3,475 km) and is 6,783.5 miles (10,917 km) around at its equator; larger than Pluto. The Moon is the source of many legends, myths, science fiction, religions, and psychological affects, as well as the spectacular solar eclipses witnessed around the world.

This photograph was made with a Canon EOS R5 camera mounted to a 4″ (714mm) refractor telescope.