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Space & Astronomy
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Beyond the planets: stars, distance and getting off the ground.
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Which galaxy contains our Solar System?
The Moon, Up Close
The Moon is the one astronomical object almost everyone has looked at properly, and also the one most people quietly misunderstand. These ten questions cover the parts that trip people up.
About this topic
Half the Moon is lit at all times. What changes over a month is not the lighting but our viewing angle, and almost every confusion about phases traces back to that one point. The same goes for the far side, which is no darker than the near side and simply faces away from us. The rest of the quiz covers the things the Moon does to us and to itself: the tides it raises, the maria that darken its face, and the few centimetres a year it drifts away from Earth, a figure we know because Apollo crews left mirrors on the surface to bounce lasers off.
Questions & answers
The Moon, Up Close: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1What causes the phases of the Moon?
- A Earth's shadow falling across the Moon
- B Clouds in Earth's atmosphere covering part of it
- C The Moon passing in and out of Earth's magnetic field
- D The changing angle between the Sun, the Moon and Earth Correct
Answer: D. The changing angle between the Sun, the Moon and Earth
Why: Half the Moon is always sunlit; the phase is simply how much of that lit half happens to face us. Earth's shadow is involved only during a lunar eclipse, which is a separate and much rarer event.
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2Why do we always see the same face of the Moon?
- A It rotates exactly twice for each orbit
- B Earth's magnetic field holds one face towards us
- C It rotates once for each orbit of Earth Correct
- D It does not rotate at all
Answer: C. It rotates once for each orbit of Earth
Why: The Moon is tidally locked, turning once on its axis in the same time it takes to circle Earth. Because its orbit wobbles slightly, we can actually see about 59 per cent of the surface over time rather than exactly half.
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3What are the large dark patches on the Moon called?
- A Regolith
- B Maria Correct
- C Terrae
- D Rilles
Answer: B. Maria
Why: Maria is Latin for seas, the name given by early observers who thought the smooth dark areas were oceans. They are actually plains of solidified lava from ancient eruptions.
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4A total lunar eclipse happens when what lines up?
- A Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon Correct
- B The Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth
- C The Moon passes behind the Sun
- D Earth and the Moon reach opposite sides of the Sun
Answer: A. Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon
Why: Earth sits in the middle and its shadow falls across the Moon. The Moon usually turns a deep copper colour rather than going black, because sunlight bent through Earth's atmosphere still reaches it.
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5Roughly how long does the Moon take to orbit Earth once, measured against the background stars?
- A Roughly 12 days
- B Roughly 45 days
- C Roughly 60 days
- D Roughly 27 days Correct
Answer: D. Roughly 27 days
Why: One orbit relative to the stars takes about 27.3 days. The cycle of phases runs about two days longer, at 29.5 days, because Earth has moved along its own orbit in the meantime.
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6What is the main cause of ocean tides on Earth?
- A Earth's rotation acting alone
- B The gravitational pull of Jupiter
- C The Moon's gravitational pull Correct
- D The Sun's magnetic field
Answer: C. The Moon's gravitational pull
Why: The Moon's gravity stretches the oceans into a bulge on both the near and far sides of Earth. The Sun adds a tidal pull of its own, roughly half as strong, and the highest tides come when the two line up.
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7The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth at roughly what rate?
- A About 4 kilometres a year
- B About 4 centimetres a year Correct
- C About 4 millimetres a year
- D About 4 metres a year
Answer: B. About 4 centimetres a year
Why: The Moon recedes by roughly 3.8 centimetres a year as tidal friction transfers energy from Earth's rotation. We know the figure precisely because Apollo crews left reflectors on the surface for lasers to bounce off.
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8What is the leading explanation for how the Moon formed?
- A A collision between the early Earth and a Mars-sized body Correct
- B Capture of a passing asteroid by Earth's gravity
- C Condensation from a ring of gas left over from the Sun
- D A piece of Mars thrown off by a volcanic eruption
Answer: A. A collision between the early Earth and a Mars-sized body
Why: The giant impact hypothesis has debris from the collision settling into orbit and coalescing. It neatly explains why the Moon has only a small iron core and why its rocks are so chemically similar to Earth's mantle.
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9How much sunlight does the far side of the Moon receive?
- A None at all
- B Only during a lunar eclipse
- C About a tenth as much
- D About the same as the near side Correct
Answer: D. About the same as the near side
Why: The far side is hidden from us, not from the Sun, and gets its share of daylight through the month. It looks quite different up close, being crowded with craters and almost free of the dark maria.
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10Why have the Apollo footprints on the Moon survived so well?
- A They were sealed under a layer of ice
- B The vacuum freezes the dust in place permanently
- C There is essentially no atmosphere, so no wind or rain to erode them Correct
- D The lunar soil sets hard like concrete
Answer: C. There is essentially no atmosphere, so no wind or rain to erode them
Why: With no air and no water there is nothing to wash or blow the dust around. They will still fade eventually, ground down over millions of years by the constant rain of micrometeorites.
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