What is the difference between the near side of the moon and the far side of the moon?

Answer 1

There are more craters and fewer maria (the dark patches) on the "far side" than the "near side" .

The moon revolves on its axis as it revolves around the Earth at a speed that ensures that the "near side" is always visible to us on Earth. As a result, the "far side" is exposed to the rest of the solar system much more than the "near side".

Answer 2

There is just more moon on the moon's far side, and it has been photographed many times. There is nothing unexpected. No 2001: A Space Odyssey monoliths, or anything like that.

Note: The term 'dark side' is often confused with 'far side', meaning the part of the moon that is not ever visible from earth's surface. Properly speaking, 'dark side' of the moon refers to whichever half of the moon is in darkness at a given time. This is exactly the same thing as reference to the nighttime, or dark part of the earth at any given time.

Answer 3

The far side of the moon is constantly changing because the earth rotates, the moon rotates, and the moon orbits the earth. Technically the "far side of the moon" is the dark side you don't see, but there is no point on the moon that is always farthest away from the earth

Answer 4

Not at all. Every place on the moon is in sunlight for half the time and in dark for

the other half, just like every place on earth. And just like on earth, at any moment

in time, half of it is in sunlight and the other half of it is in darkness. And just like on

the earth, as it rotates, places keep slipping from light into dark, and other places keep

slipping from dark into light.

As time goes on and the moon swings around the earth, sometimes we can see all of the

lighted half, sometime we can see only part of it, and sometime we can't see any of it.

But the half of the moon that faces us never changes, and we call it the "near side".

And the half that faces away from us never changes, and we call the "far side".

Nobody ever saw anything on that side until the Russians sent a camera looping

around the back of the moon in 1959.

Different Answer:

The *far* side of the moon is the part of the moon we never see from Earth (due to the moon rotating around it's axis in the same time as it orbits out planet).

The *dark* side of the moon is the night side of the moon, which changes constantly every lunar month. During the New Moon phase, the moon's near side is the *dark* side and during the Full Moon phase, the moon's far side is the *dark* side.

Answer 5

The back of the moon is more heavily cratered.

Answer 6

the near side is the side of the moon that is always facing earth, and as such is closer to the earth then the far side which is always facing away from the earth.

Answer 7

The far side of the moon has smaller craters You can see a picture of it here