gardening

lunar process

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

June 29, 2026

Quick Summary

The term "gardening" in relation to the Moon refers to the process of the lunar surface being turned over by micrometeoroid bombardment and the Moon's environment. This continuous rain of tiny impacts, over millions of years, alters the lunar soil and rocks.1

Lunar phases are the varying appearances of the Moon as seen from Earth, caused by different amounts of its surface being illuminated by the Sun. The eight main phases are new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter, and waning crescent.2

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

2 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

Moon
General characteristics
…quite large, turned over—or “gardened”—the lunar surface to a depth that is unknown but may have been as much as tens of kilometers. As the frequency of large impacts decreased, the gardening depth became shallower. It is estimated that the top centimeter of the surface at a particular site…
Read More
…quite large, turned over—or “gardened”—the lunar surface to a depth that is unknown but may have been as much as tens of kilometers. As the frequency of large impacts decreased, the gardening depth became shallower. It is estimated that the top centimeter of the surface at a particular site…
Read More