224 Trees, Stars, and Birds 



as far as we know neither the moon nor any of the 

 planets can affect the weather. Yet the moon is the 

 chief cause of the tides, it affects the earth's magnetism 

 as it moves about its orbit, and many a night is made 

 more cheerful by the radiant beams from Luna's face. 



Size of the moon and the distance to it. The diameter 

 of the moon is 2163 miles, which is a little more than 

 one fourth the diameter of the earth. It is much nearer 

 than any other heavenly body to the earth. Its average 

 distance is about 238,840 miles, but as its orbit is not 

 a perfect circle it comes within 222,000 miles of the 

 earth at one point, in each revolution, and at another 

 point is about 253,000 miles away. Do you suppose 

 that any man has in the course of his life walked as far 

 as 222,000 miles? Has any one ever traveled so far? 



How the moon looks when viewed with a telescope. 

 As the moon is so near to us, its surface can well be seen 



FIG. 138. A photograph of a part of the moon's surface. 



