{"id":234,"date":"2025-09-29T01:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T01:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.sciencepicker.com\/?p=234"},"modified":"2025-09-29T01:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T01:02:14","slug":"whats-on-the-other-side-of-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/whats-on-the-other-side-of-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s on the other side of the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We’ve all learned the term “dark side of\nthe Moon” for the far side of our planetoid’s satellite. This idea is\nbased on a misunderstanding that if we can’t see the opposite side of the Moon,\nit must be dark. Its appearance appears to change, which is something we call\nthe aspects of the Moon. Interestingly, “New Moon,” which is the\nmoment when the Sun and Moon are on the same side of Earth, is when the\nappearance we see from Earth is actually dark and the far side is brightly\nilluminated by the Sun. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call it what it is: The far side<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, why do we call that portion of the Moon<\/strong> we don’t see\nan individual month? The better term to use is the “far side<\/strong>.”\nIt makes perfect sense since it is the side farthest away from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand, let’s look more closely at its relationship with Earth<\/strong>.\nThe Moon<\/strong> orbits in such a way that one rotation takes just about the\nsame length of time as it takes for it to orbit around Earth<\/strong>. That is,\nthe Moon<\/strong> spins on its own axis during its orbit around our planet. One\nside is facing us throughout its orbit. The scientific name for this spin-orbit\nbond is “tidal locking”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there is literally a dark side of the Moon<\/strong>,\nbut it’s not always the same side. What is darkened depends on which phase of\nthe Moon<\/strong> we see. During a new moon<\/strong>, the Moon<\/strong> lies within Earth<\/strong>\nand the Sun<\/strong>. So, the side we frequently see from Earth <\/strong>is commonly lit by the Sun<\/strong> in\nits shadow. Only when the Moon<\/strong> is opposed from the Sun,<\/strong> we notice\nthat part of the surface lit up. At that duration, the far side<\/strong> is\nshadowed and is positively dark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring the mysterious far side\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The far side<\/strong> of\nthe Moon<\/strong> was already\nambiguous and surreptitious. But that all developed when the first pictures of\nits cratered surface were transferred back by the USSR’s Luna 3 mission in\n1959. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the Moon<\/strong> including its far side<\/strong> has been\ncontinuously investigated by humans and spacecraft from various nations since the\nmid-1960s, we know much further about it. We know, for instance, that the lunar<\/strong>\nfar side<\/strong> is cratered, and has a few large containers called maria, as\nwell as peaks. One of the most comprehensively known craters in the solar\nsystem sits at its south pole, called the South Pole Aitken Basin. That area is\nalso known to have water ice hidden away on enduringly sheltered crater walls,\nand in precincts just below the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out that a little sliver of the far side<\/strong> can be witnessed on Earth<\/strong> due to a marvel called liberation in which the moon<\/strong> vacillates each month, exhibiting a small bit of the Moon<\/strong> we’d oppositely not see. Think of liberation as a limited side to side movement that the Moon<\/strong> encounters. It’s not a lot, but sufficient to exhibit a fraction more of the lunar<\/strong> surface than we frequently see from Earth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Source: Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The most recent examination of the far side<\/strong> has been\nundertaken by a Chinese space agency and its 4 spacecraft. It’s a robotic\nmission with a rover to study the lunar<\/strong> surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast realities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  • The phrase “dark side of the Moon” is actually a misnomer for the “far side<\/strong>“.<\/li>
  • A side of the Moon remains dark for 14 earth days each month. <\/li>
  • The far side of the Moon<\/strong> has been investigated by the United States, Russia, and China.            <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We’ve all learned the term “dark side of the Moon” for the far side of our planetoid’s satellite. This idea is based on a misunderstanding that if we can’t see the opposite side of the Moon, it must be dark. Its appearance appears to change, which is something we call the aspects of the Moon. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-and-astronomy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":700,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}