It’s the side of the Moon we never see from home: the far side
Often incorrectly called the “dark side” of the Moon – incorrect because it receives equal amounts of sunlight as the near side does – the Moon’s far side has stark characteristics. To start, it’s more heavily cratered and has fewer maria, or large, dark, basaltic plains created by early volcanic eruptions. They’re called maria because that’s the Latin word for “seas.” Early astronomers thought the dark areas were oceans.
So why can’t we see it from Earth? The same side of the Moon always faces us because the Moon is tidally locked to our planet. That means the Moon’s orbital period is the same duration as its spin around its axis. It takes a whole month on Earth for the Moon to turn once.
Image description: The round, gray disc of the Moon is pockmarked across its surface with craters of all sizes. This mosaic of the Moon’s far side is comprised of 15,000 images taken by our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter between November 2009 and February 2011.
Credits: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
#Moon #Luna #Mosaic #WishYouWereHere #NASA
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07 February 2024
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