The surface, or outside, of the Moon looks like this:

The bright places on the Moon are areas of mountains. The dark places are flat plains. Both have a lot of craters.

crater

plains

mountains

moon rock

soil

The soil and rocks on the Moon are made of minerals also found on Earth.

This is how a star is born:

star

nebula

A nebula is a cloud of dust and gas. If enough of the dust and gas come together, a star will form in the nebula.

• • What are the Moon and the stars made of?

Since the beginning of time, people have had questions about outer space. What is the Moon made of? Why do stars glow? Scientists on Earth are now answering some of the questions.

Astronauts have walked through the Moon’s plains. They collected rocks and soil and brought them back to Earth. Here, scientists found that the rocks from the Moon have aluminum, silica, iron, and other minerals in them. There are also some gases trapped in the rocks. Scientists found that much of the Moon’s soil is made up of small pieces of glass.

Scientists use telescopes and other special tools to study the stars. They learned that stars are huge balls of hot gases. They are not solid like the Moon or the Earth. The gases in the stars give off both heat and light.

We still have questions about the Moon and stars. Scientists are learning more about outer space every day.

The minerals in rocks from the Moon are also found on Earth.