Beginning stargazers often have a tough time following the movements of the moon. That's to be expected; the moon's orbital motion around the Earth, coupled with our own rotation, makes it rather difficult to follow.

* The moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is 2,160 miles across, is an average of 238,900 miles from Earth and orbits our planet once every 27.32 days. It is estimated to be 4.76 billion years old.

The moon is just past full, so it is a good time to consider two strange coincidences that affect the way in which the earth's only natural satellite presents itself to us. The first concerns the rate of rotation of the moon on its axis.