MoonTracker Lunar Phase Program
Courtesy of Night Sky ObserverThe Java applet below shows the current phase of the moon for all locations, as well as the dates of the coming phases. It is provided to flashlight users, testers, modders, and others who need to know exactly how much moonlight will interfere with (or aid) their night-time activities.
The following is excerpted from the Wikipedia entry for 'The Moon'.
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It has no formal name other than "The Moon", although in English it is occasionally called Luna (Latin for moon), or Selene (Greek for moon), to distinguish it from the generic "moon" (natural satellites of other planets are also called moons). Its symbol is a crescent. The terms lunar, selene/seleno-, and cynthion (from the Lunar deities Selene and Cynthia) refer to the Moon (aposelene, selenocentric, pericynthion, etc.).
The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles). The Moon's diameter is 3,476 kilometers (2,160 miles).
The first manmade object to land on the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959, the first photographs of the otherwise occluded far side of the Moon were made by Luna 3 that same year, and the first people to land on the Moon came aboard Apollo 11 in 1969.