Fascinated by the big ball of cheese orbiting our Earth? Well, here are some Moon facts that are out of this world!   

1. International Moon Day marks the anniversary of the first landing by humans on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 lunar mission!  
2. The Moon experiences earthquakes too! However, they’re called moonquakes. They are caused by the gravitational influence of the Earth. Moonquakes are weaker than earthquakes but can last up to half an hour!  
3. Ever wonder how the Moon was formed? The leading theory is that an object the size of Mars collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago! The debris from both the Earth and the object accumulated and finally formed the Moon!  
4. Chandrayaan-1 was the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) first lunar space probe and it even found water on the Moon! 
5. The Moon has mountains, huge craters and even seas of hardened lava on its surface!  
6. Moon dust smells like gunpowder and has caused lunar hay fever for some astronauts. The sneezing and congestion took days to settle.  
7. A small study by the University of Basel in Switzerland found that during a full moon, people experience less deep sleep, produce less melatonin and even take five minutes longer to fall asleep as compared to other days of the month. 
8. Clocks tick faster on the Moon by about 56 microseconds each day!  
9. Shadows are much darker on the Moon than on Earth. In fact, that was the first thing astronauts noticed when setting foot on the Moon. This is because the atmosphere that scatters light to create shadows is non-existent there. 

Sources:

International Moon Day | UN

Interesting Facts About Moon | Royal Museums Greenwich

Solar System Exploration | NASA

Chandrayaan | Britannica

Facts About the Moon | National Geographic Kids

10 Amazing Facts About the Moon | National Geographic

Can a Full Moon Really Affect Your Sleep? | BBC

The Hindu

Apollo Chronicles | NASA