Why does the Moon have big round holes?

On a clear night, look up at the bright full Moon. From far away, it looks smooth and round. Up close, the Moon is covered in round holes. Some are tiny, and some are huge.

Maybe you have pressed your finger into sand and made a little round dip. The Moon has dips like that, only much bigger. So why does the Moon have big round holes? Let's find out together.

Out in space, lots of rocks fly around. We call them space rocks, which means rocks that zoom through space all by themselves. Some space rocks are as small as a pebble. Others are as big as a mountain.

Long ago, many space rocks flew toward the Moon. They zoomed faster than any race car or plane. Nothing slowed them down on the way. What do you think happens when one reaches the Moon?

Crash! The space rock smashes into the Moon's ground. It hits so hard that it digs out a big hole. A bigger space rock digs a bigger hole.

The crash pushes dust and stones out to every side. They fly out all the way around, in a ring. That ring makes the hole round, like the splash when you drop a stone into a puddle.

Crashes like this happened again and again. New space rocks crashed right next to old holes, and even inside them. That is how the Moon got covered in holes, big and small.

The Moon has no wind and no rain to fill the holes in. So the holes stay just as the space rocks left them. They have stayed for a very long time.

Space rocks. Long ago, space rocks crashed into the Moon and pushed out big round holes.

Next time you see the Moon, you can wave to all its round holes and sleep sweetly.