The Moon is 4.5 billion years old and orbits around the earth. It takes 13 hours to travel to the moon from earth by rocket.

The Moon is 1/4 size of Earth.

The same side of the Moon always faces the Earth as it rotates.

Because of a loss of orbital energy to gravity from the Earth, the Moon is gradually moving away from the Earth by 1 1/2" each year.

Heating Moon dust to 800 degree Centigrade will turn it into water.

As the Moon orbits the Earth every 29.53 days it goes through a complete Moon phase cycle shown above.

The new Moon occurs when the Moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun and the entire illuminated portion of the Moon is on the back side of the Moon the half we can't see. At a full Moon, the Moon is behind the Earth and the entire sunlit part of the Moon faces us.

Sometimes the days of the month are less than the cycle of the Moon which causes the Moon to rise twice in one month and is refered to as "Blue Moon". Hence the saying once in a Blue Moon. The next upcoming Blue Moon is on August 2012.

Normally the Earth orbits titled at a 5 degree angle however an eclipses occurs when the Earth, the Sun and the Moon are in a straight line.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is directly between between the Sun and the Moon and Earth's shadow falls on the Moon. The next upcoming eclipse is on December 21 2010.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon gets directly between the Sun and the Earth and the moon's shadow falls on Earth.