Most recent change of TheMoon

Edit made on November 05, 2008 by GuestEditor at 20:17:50

Deleted text in red / Inserted text in green

WW
HEADERS_END
[[[>50
Actually there are several other natural bodies which, in some sense, orbit the Earth.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne
* http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_natural_satellites_revolve_around_the_earth
]]]

The Moon is the usual name for the _single_ (???) single (see box at right) natural satellite of the Earth.
The distance to the moon can be computed, surprisingly, from simply knowing
the size of the Earth, acceleration due to gravity, and the orbital period.

----

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. It is about
384,400 km distant, and it's its diameter is about 3,475 km.

The Moon appears to make a complete orbit in about 29.5 days, but
that is relative to the Sun. Relative to the stars the orbital period
is around 27.3 days.

When the Moon moves into the shadow of the Earth we have a Lunar Eclipse.

----

I understand that recently there has been 5 other natural bodies which have been found to be orbiting the Earth.

The only web info I can find is http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_natural_satellites_revolve_around_the_earth

however I heard this on Stephen Fry's QI so it must be true.

----
CategoryMaths