18% of the World’s population have never seen the Moon

According to the latest survey by the UMSG, 18% of the World’s population have never seen the Moon. With increasing carbon emissions and light pollution, this number will only get higher. The Moon has no atmosphere and reflects the sunlight even more efficiently than the Earth, making it even harder to notice from the ground year by year.

Galileo Galilei was the first known astronomer who noticed that the Moon might be fading away as years pass by. According to a realistic painting from the 12th century, the Full Moon used to shine almost as bright as the Sun does nowadays.

Many don’t know that the Moon (or Luna) is the Earth’s only natural satellite and was formed roughly 4.6 billion years ago around some 40 million years after the formation of the solar system. The Moon is in synchronous rotation with the Earth meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. The first spacecraft reaching the Moon was in 1959 by the Soviet Lunar Program with the first manned landing being the American Apollo 11 in 1969.