Photo by Verne Morton 



The Moon 



E. CUBILLOS 

 Bogota, Columbia, S. A. 



The moon is the nearest body to us in all space, and so great is 

 the distance that separates us from the stars that we speak as if she 

 were not very far off, yet compared with the size of the earth the 

 space lying between us and her is very great. 



After the sun, the most important body to the inhabitants of the 

 earth is probably the moon, owing to its variety of phases and to 

 rapid changes of position in the skies. 



The mean distance of the moon from the earth is about 238,840 

 miles. Owing to the eccentricity of its orbit it is sometimes 

 252,972 miles away and sometimes only 221,614. According to 

 the latest measurements, the diameter of the moon is 2,163 miles, 

 which is rr.ore than a quarter that of the earth. It travels eastward 



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