Why Can We Only See One Side Of The Moon
Olivia Luz
Our lunar companion rotates while it orbits earth.
The reason why only one side of the moon is visible from earth because the moon s gravity is tidaly locked by the earth s gravity. It s just that the amount of time it takes the moon to complete a revolution on its axis is the same it takes to circle our planet about 27 days. Though sometimes we also see a glimpse of the far side of the moon due to some astronomical phenomenon called libration. The side of the moon facing us during a new moon is the same as any other moon phase such as a full moon when we can see the entire face.
Nasa jpl caltech the far side of the moon looks very different than the near side see the first photo in this article. There are two main reasons for this. First the moon s orbit around earth is elliptical not circular so its rotation is sometimes ahead and sometimes behind its orbital motion. As a result the same lunar hemisphere always faces earth.
The moon is directly illuminated by the sun and the cyclically. We only ever see one side of the moon because as it orbits around earth it also rotates on its own axis at the same speed. The near side of the moon is the lunar hemisphere that is permanently turned towards earth as opposed to the opposite far side only one side of the moon is visible from earth because the moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the moon orbits the earth a situation known as synchronous rotation or tidal locking. And second the moon s rotation axis is not at right angles to its orbit around the earth so we can sometimes see over or under its poles.
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We all know that the earth rotates on its own axis so theoretically the moon should also do the same allowing us to get a full picture of the planetoid. Go build a website. So why can we only see one side of the moon from earth. For starters the moon is not stuck in place with one side facing us.Source : pinterest.com