Inside & Out

Water Discovery Timeline

In 2020, NASA scientists confirmed the presence of water molecules on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This was another step in a series of discoveries over centuries to discover and characterize lunar water.

Explore this history with additional details and image captions ›

Like Earth, the Moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the Moon rotates.

Moon Phases

Between four and seven times a year, Earth, Moon and Sun line up just right to create the cosmic-scale shadow show known as an eclipse.

Composite of lunar eclipse phases over night sky

Eclipses

Several theories vie for dominance but most agree on one thing — Earth's Moon was born from destruction.

Artist depiction of two planets colliding.

Moon Formation