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On average, the Moon is around\u00a0238,855 miles from Earth.\u00a0Depending on where it is in its orbit, it can be as close as 226,000 miles\u00a0or as far away as 251,000 miles.\u00a0With a radius of approximately 1,080 miles, it’s the fifth-largest moon in our solar system,\u00a0but it’s only one-third as wide as the big blue marble we call home.\u00a0For a better visual reference, think of Earth as the diameter of a nickel and the Moon as that of a small pea or coffee bean. Roughly 30 nickels, or Earth-sized planets, would fit between the two.<\/p>\n
We’re not delving into how a laser works, but know that a laser’s tightly packed beam is very different from the scattered light emitted by a bulb or flashlight.\u00a0The very word “laser” isn’t a word at all, but an acronym for\u00a0Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation<\/a>. A laser beam,\u00a0which\u00a0doesn’t occur naturally,\u00a0is made of\u00a0individual particles of light energy called\u00a0photons. This tightly focused stream of\u00a0coherent light waves will travel in one direction without scattering.\u00a0So, if the beam were fired into space, it would continue forever until it hit a solid object like the Moon.<\/p>\n Aside from the ever-expanding universe, nothing can go faster than the speed of light, at least as we currently understand it.\u00a0That universal speed limit is\u00a0670,616,629.3844 miles per hour.\u00a0Even though laser light differs from normal light, it’s still light. Therefore, it would take a laser beam between 1.21 and 1.35 seconds to reach the Moon, again depending on where it is on its celestial trajectory.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bouncing lasers off the Moon<\/p>\n Ah, but these numbers aren’t just derived from a mathematical equation; they’ve been measured in real life. Unless you’re a hardcore astrophile, you may not realize that\u00a0five reflecting panels are currently sitting on the Moon.\u00a0These panels have what scientists call “corner cube” mirrors attached to them because they’re literally corners of a glass cube that can reflect light back to its source, no matter where it came from. See where we’re going here?<\/p>\n The first was deposited by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969, which had a total of 100 corner cubes. The Soviets dropped their first\u00a0robotic rover (Lunokhod 1) in 1970, which had 14 mirrors.\u00a0In 1971, the Apollo 14 crew placed one with 100 corner cubes, while the Apollo 15 crew placed another with 300. The Soviet Lunokhod 2 (with 14 mirrors) was left in 1973.\u00a0The goal was to shoot a laser beam from Earth to the Moon to track the distance between them over time. On average, light takes about 2.5 seconds to make a round trip. As it turns out, these two celestial bodies are actually drifting about 1.5 inches apart every year.<\/p>\n But those old mirrors were starting to get dirty, likely caused by moon dust kicked up by tiny meteorite impacts.\u00a0So, in June 2009, NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to study our nearest celestial body from its own orbit.\u00a0Attached was a new, improved, clean reflector that NASA said was “the size of a paperback novel.” Interestingly, it took over a decade to get a beam to hit its mark<\/a>, but it finally did so in August 2020.<\/p>\n
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