The Moon is the only satellite which accompanies the Earth in its path around the Sun. The Moon’s diameter is 27% of the Earth’s diameter and its mass is 1.23% of the Earth’s. It is 384,000km away from us here on Earth. The Moon takes 27.32 days to orbit the Earth (as seen by us against the background of stars). The orbital plane of the Moon lies within 5° of the apparent orbit of the Sun (as seen from Earth).

We only see the Moon from here on Earth by the light which is reflecting upon it from the Sun and this is how we see the phases.