Does it ever occur that when we stare at a full moon, the face seems the same throughout the time we do so?Although the Moon is circular like the Earth, we can only view the near color side from the surface of the Earth. Therefore, nobody has ever seen the ‘dark side of the Moon’ before, since it is the one half of the moon that is always looking away from the Earth. Until recently, this was true for almost all of the first humans’ history. The Dark Side Of The Moon Meaning Generally speaking, the hemisphere of the Moon that faces away from the Earth is referred to as the ‘dark side’ of the Moon. But, in truth, it is no darker than any other area of the moon’s surface as sunlight falls evenly on each side of the moon, irrespective of its location.It is only ‘black’ to us because that hemisphere can never be seen from Earth because of a phenomenon called ’tidal locking’, which prevents us from seeing it. To describe the side of the world we do not know, we should use the word ‘far side’ rather than ‘dark side,’ which may otherwise lead to all sorts of misunderstandings. Throughout the remainder of this piece, we will refer to the ‘far side’ to maintain consistency. The Dark Side Of The Moon: FeaturesThe far side of the Moon has an entirely different personality than the near side we are used to seeing daily. A vast maria, black basaltic plains formed by volcanic eruptions, encompass roughly a third of the same side of the Moon, which is comparatively smooth and reasonably smooth on the far side of the Moon. Since early astronomers mistook the darker regions on the Moon for lakes of water, they named it ‘maria’.The lunar far side is much rougher and craggier. Compared to the other half of the planet, it has a densely packed surface covered with impact craters and fewer maria than the other half. The black structures cover just a tiny portion of the far side, around 1%. The holes on the other near side of the mountain range are likewise reasonably enormous. One of them, the South Pole–Aitken basin, is one of our Solar System’s most famous craters. What falls on the dark side of the Moon?Once upon a time, the Moon’s far side remained unknown and unexplored. However, when the Luna 3 mission of the Soviet Probe returned the first photographs of the Moon’s cratered surface in 1959, everything changed.Approximately 59% of the Moon’s surface may be seen from Earth during each orbit. 41% of the Moons surface, which many refer to as ’the dark side of the Moon, is never visible to us.Since the mid-’60s, people and spacecraft from numerous nations have been exploring the Moon (specifically its far side), and as a result, we have learned a great deal more about it. For example, on the Moon’s far side, we know it is cratered, contains a few big basins (called maria), and is surrounded by mountains, among other things. The South Pole-Aitken Basin is one of the most famous basins in the Solar System, situated near the Solar System’s southern pole. Water ice is also known to exist on permanently shadowed crater walls and at regions under the planet’s surface.A tiny sliver of the Moon’s far side may be seen from Earth every month owing to a process known as libration, wherein the Moon vibrates each month, displaying a tiny sliver of the Moon we would otherwise not be able to view. Consider libration as a regular side-to-side oscillation of the Moon.The Chinese space agency along with its Chang’e 4 Spacecraft has conducted the most recent investigation of the Moon’s far side. It is a robotic mission that includes a rover investigating the lunar surface. China is willing to send people to the Moon to conduct personal research. Why is the dark side of the Moon not visible to us?Why is it even a far side in the first place? If the Moon revolves on its axis as the Earth does, shouldn’t we be able to view it from every angle at some time throughout the Moon’s rotation?Tidal locking (gravitational locking and captured rotation) is a phenomenon that occurs when the Moon rotates around the same period of time to spin around the Earth as it does to rotate around the Sun. Tidal locking occurs when the Moon takes the same time to revolve around the Sun. A result of this is that one hemisphere is always tilted inward toward the Earth. It is possible to have tidal locking because the Moon and the Earth are so near, and their gravitational influence is significant. While we are already aware of the Moon’s influence on the Earth, particularly in terms of our tides, the Earth’s influence on the moon is far more dramatic, owing to the Earth’s higher mass. As a result of libration—the apparent oscillation of the Moon as it moves closer and further from the Earth in its irregular, elliptical moon’s orbit—we may sometimes view a tiny section of the Moon’s far side on rare occasions. As a result, it is feasible to view up to 59% of the Moon’s surface from Earth, albeit not necessarily all of it at once. Before 1959, when the Soviet Union’s Luna 3 space mission captured the first photographs of the Moon’s far side, we had no way of knowing what was on the near side of the Moon. The Russian Academy of Sciences released these photographs in 1960. Unfortunately, only a 1/3 of the Moon’s far side, or approximately a sixth of the total surface area, was visible in the pictures. Later investigations captured more in-depth photographs of the Moon’s surface. The ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ is one of Pink Floyd’s best-selling albums ever. Because, other than a few other albums by the same band, there is no other record that compares to this one in terms of quality.Did You Know…Do you know Charles Duke is the youngest person to land on the Moon and Gene Cernan is the 11th person to walk on the Moon! Sound’s interesting right?Did you know about the relation between the far side of the Moon and astronomy? It has long been argued whether or not to build observatories on the far side of the Moon since it is insulated from radio telescopes from Earth. Because of this, a radio telescope has long been considered for the location. Other nations (particularly China) have shown interest in establishing stable colonies and bases in the area. In addition, space travelers may find themselves traveling all over the Moon, both close and far sides, to see what they may discover from the human eyes.‘Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd is an excellent album with a sensory and intellectual depth that not only welcomes but demands participation.
Does it ever occur that when we stare at a full moon, the face seems the same throughout the time we do so?
