The moon is a little less then 1/3 the size of earth. Its diameter is 3,476 at its equator. The moon is 1/81.3 as massive as the earth. Its rotation in at 29.5 days and  its revolution is the same so the we always see the same  side of the moon. It has 3.34 grams per cubic centimeter. on average it is 147,000,000 and 152,000,000 km from the earth.
        Scientist have many theories on how the moon was formed

1. One of the theories is that a large meteor hit the earth and  made a big chunk fly off into space.

2. Another theory is the capture theory and this is that a rock was fling by the earth and the earths gravitational field pulled it in and it has been orbiting ever since.

3. Still another theory is that --------this is where the earth was cooling and  as it was cooling  it burped out molten lava and this would explain why the rocks on earth and the moon are about the same age.

4. It was formed by loose particles surrounding the earth. The gravity pulled in all the objects and the particles gathered and formed the moon.
 

         The moon has maria which are flat portions of the moon. They are formed when lava fills in a basin. The basins were formed early in the moons history. There are also craters on the moon which are depressions in the moon formed when meteorites hit the moon. We have left seismographs of the surface of the moon. So when something hits a sends a pulse. By doing this we have been able to tell that on the side facing the moon the crust is 60 km thick on the and on the other side it is 100 km thick.  Below that is a solid mantle that extents 800 km. Them a molten zone that extends farther down. Then there is the core.
 
 

         There are eight phases of the moon. Which circle around though out the year. With the moons phases there are two words you should know waxing which means increasing or getting bigger. Then waning is decreasing or getting smaller.
 

1. New moon- which is where you can't see any of the moon.

2. Waxing crescent- where there is only a little sliver of the moon is showing.

3. First quarter- is where have the lighted side is showing, or one quarter of the moon is lighted.

4. Waxing gibbous- is where 3/4 of the lighted side is showing.

5. Full moon- this is where all of the lighted side is showing.

6. Waning gibbous- is where one little sliver is gone from the full moon.

7. Third quarter- witch is when you see only one side of the lighted side of the moon.

8. Waning crescent- is where a big portion of the moon is gone.

This picture was taken from nine plants. Produced by NASA

This is a picture of the moon. the moon's surface is solid. it has a lot of dust particles, and that is why we were worried about landing on the moon.
 
 

    A solar eclipse is when the moon cast it's shadow on the earth's surface. It happens in during the daytime. A lunar eclipse is when the earth's shadow falls on the moon.
 
 

A moon colony is a permanent structure on the moon. it is used for observation of the moon's surface, and other thing in the solar system. The advantages are: scientist would learn more about the moon itself. the could do more hands on experiments. We would also be a self-seficant colony. The disadvages whould be the danger and the cost.The way we would build it is by taking things uo there one by one and asabling them up there. It would be a dome shaped building and the colony would have to be self seficant.