The Moon explained: our natural satellite

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe claim under review: the Moon is a big, serious world.

2. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNASA's reference page says it is less than a third of the width of Earth.

3. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorLess than a third is still a third of something, and I think the Moon is doing its best. It's about growth.

4. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNASA says the Moon is less than a third the width of Earth, with a radius of about one thousand eighty miles.

5. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThat still manages to lock the tides and keep the whole planet's rotation in sync. Not bad for a silent partner.

6. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe atmosphere is thin and not breathable, there is no liquid water, and the page says it cannot support life as we know it.

7. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorSo it's a fixer-upper. Water ice has turned up in dark craters at the poles, which NASA says makes it a little more hospitable.

8. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorA little.

9. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorHumans are its only visitors beyond Earth so far, and they carried home eight hundred forty-two pounds of rocks.

10. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorMildly Bonkers. Small, airless, robbed, and it still shows up every night.