The Moon

The Moon, Earth’s constant celestial companion, orbits at an average distance of 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) from our planet. Its origin, as revealed by the most widely accepted theory, the Giant Impact Hypothesis, traces back to a cataclysmic event. In the primordial past, a Mars-sized protoplanet known as Theia collided with Earth, and from the resulting cosmic debris, the Moon was born—a testament to the violent and wondrous forces that shaped our solar system.