Home  Articles  Calendar Date Line  From Quran From Hadith FAQ Letters Preface Contact Us	Moon Brief Explanation of the Moon Phases Moon Sighting, Problems and Solutions Phases of the Moon Dates of the Islamic Calendar must tally with the phases of the moon Observing the Hilal - Views of the four Imams and other scholars Observing the Hilal – Astronomical facts. lunar phases   MOON FACTS Average Distance from Earth: 238,857 miles (384,500 km) Diameter: 2,160 miles (3,476 km) Mass: 7.35 X 1022 kg  (0.012 times Earth's mass) Surface Gravity: 1.62 m/sec2 (0.166 times that of Earth) (Thanks to the Moon's weak gravity, you would feel much lighter -- only about one-sixth your weight on Earth. If you weigh 180 pounds, you would weigh about 30 pounds on the Moon.) Temperature variation: Sunlit Side (Lunar "noon"): 243°F (117°C) Dark Side (Lunar "midnight"): -279°F (-173°C) Length of Lunar Month: 29.53 Earth days   Atmosphere: None Because the Moon has no atmosphere, the sky is black, even during the day.   The Dark Side of the Moon:  People often refer to "the dark side of the moon", but there is no such thing.  The sun shines on all sides of it in turn.  However, there is a "far side of the moon" which is never seen from the earth.  Over the eons, the gravitational forces of the earth have slowed down the moon's rotation about its axis until the rotational period exactly matches the revolution period about the earth.

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