How far is the Moon from Earth?
The Moon is about 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles) from Earth on average. Its orbit is an oval, so the distance changes by about 40,000 km over a month.
At its closest point, called perigee, the Moon comes within about 363,000 kilometers. At its farthest, apogee, it is about 405,000 kilometers away. When a full moon happens near perigee, it looks slightly larger and brighter and is often called a supermoon.
The distance is huge compared with everyday travel. You could fit all the other planets of the solar system side by side in the gap between Earth and the Moon. Light makes the trip in about 1.3 seconds, while the Apollo astronauts took about three days.
The Moon is drifting away
Laser reflectors left on the Moon by Apollo astronauts let scientists measure the distance to within a few centimeters. These measurements show the Moon is moving away from Earth by about 3.8 centimeters a year, roughly as fast as fingernails grow. The tides that the Moon raises in Earth's oceans slowly push it outward.
Did You Know?
Twelve astronauts walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. In April 2026, the Artemis II crew flew around the Moon, the first people to travel there in more than half a century.