Have you ever looked up at the Moon in the sky and wondered just how far away it is? The Moon may look close, but it’s actually super far away! Let me explain…
The Moon is our closest neighbour in space, but it’s still incredibly far from the Earth. On average, the Moon orbits (circles) the Earth from a distance of about 384,000 kilometres.
That’s really, really far! To put it in perspective, if you were to drive from London to Edinburgh, that’s a distance of about 650 kilometres. To travel the same distance as from the Earth to the Moon, you’d have to make that drive from London to Edinburgh over 500 times! It’s also the same as driving 10 times round the Earth!
The Moon is so far away that if you were to fly there in a jumbo jet, it would take you over a week to get there, even travelling at top speed! Astronauts who have visited the Moon had to travel for several days just to reach it.
But why is the Moon so far away? It’s all to do with the size of the Earth and the way the Moon orbits around us. The Moon is much smaller than the Earth, about one quarter the size. And the Moon’s orbit is a giant circle around the Earth, keeping it at that 384,000 kilometre distance.
This huge distance between the Earth and Moon is important for lots of reasons. The Moon’s gravity helps pull on the Earth’s oceans, creating the tides we see every day.
So the next time you look up at the Moon, remember just how far away it really is – over 500 times the distance from London to Edinburgh! It’s amazing that something so distant can have such a big impact on our planet.
