The moon is something we tend to take for granted. It inhabits our legends, myths, fairy tales and horror stories as far back as human memory can stretch. But the moon is moving away from us. The tides were probably way more intense when it was only 14,000 miles away, and we won’t be losing the moon for many, many lifetimes, but it is sad to think about our closest celestial neighbor and long-time companion slowly drifting away.
I’m something of a space nerd, myself, so I’ll go ahead and brag that I knew a lot of the stuff in this infographic. I didn’t know that moon dust was toxic though! I imagine those small, jagged pieces would rip your lungs right up. I also didn’t know about the Snow Moon, or the Hunter’s Moon. I’m pretty sure Neil Young is responsible for my familiarity with the Harvest Moon.
If you’re wondering why we haven’t visited the moon since 1972, or why we haven’t been to Mars yet (hurry up, right?) you might be interested to learn one of the reasons space travel is really, really hard. The earth is protecting us from solar radiation that we are totally exposed to in space. So be patient. And when you look up at the moon, be grateful.