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While were always pretty sure that the moon had another side to it, nobody ever

saw it, because the moon always keeps the same side facing the earth. Finally,

in 1959, the Russians sent a spacecraft around the moon carrying a camera, and

the pictures it sent back confirmed our suspicions ... for the first time, we could

clearly see that the moon has another side, back around where we cannot see it.

And that was about all we could really tell from those 1959 photos, because their

quality was so poor.

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Dennis O'Hara

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3y ago

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Why is it t that far side of the moon was unknown until 1959?

The far side of the Moon remained unknown until 1959 because it is always facing away from Earth due to synchronous rotation, meaning the same side is constantly turned toward us. This phenomenon prevented any direct observation from Earth. It wasn't until the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 successfully captured and transmitted images of the far side that humans gained a detailed understanding of its surface features. Prior to this, any knowledge about the far side was purely speculative.


What is the name of the side of the moon that we don't see the dark side?

The Moon spins at the same rate that it orbits the Earth, keeping one face turned toward the Earth. The terms "near side" and "far side" are correct to describe the two sides of the Moon. Until the Soviet Luna 3 satellite orbited the Moon in 1959, we had no clue what the far side of the Moon looked like.


Where is the dark side of the moon as it moves to full?

From Earth, you can only see ONE side of the moon. And that is the same side that has been facing us for as long as I can remember. The moon does not rotate its face. I'm afraid you can't ever see the dark side of moon from Earth :(


What was the first spacecraft to observe the dark side of the Moon?

The first spacecraft to observe the dark side of the Moon was the Soviet Luna 3 probe in 1959. It captured the first images of the far side of the Moon and transmitted them back to Earth using a radio transmitter. These images provided valuable insights into the previously unseen hemisphere of the Moon.


Why is one side of the moon called the dark side the moon?

'Dark side' is really a misnomer. The entire moon experiences daylight and night time, just as earth does. However, a full day (analogous to earth's 24 hour day) is an entire lunar cycle long on the moon. The side of the moon that faces away from earth might be more properly called the 'far side'.Many believe that the moon does not turn on its axis, but this is a completely geocentric (and inaccurate) assumption. It is not unlike the belief of centuries past that the sun, moon, planets and stars must orbit around earth; after all, that is how it appears.In order for the same face of the moon to orient toward earth all of the time, while the moon orbits around the earth, then the moon must turn on its axis exactly once for every orbit that the moon makes around earth.It was named the 'Dark side' because until the Luna 3 probe in 1959 nothing was known about it. (Dark being used as meaning 'unseeable' or 'mysterious') Now days it is more commonly known as the Far Side.

Related Questions

Why was the far side of the moon unknown until 1959?

While were always pretty sure that the moon had another side to it, nobody ever saw it, because the moon always keeps the same side facing the earth. Finally, in 1959, the Russians sent a spacecraft around the moon carrying a camera, and the pictures it sent back confirmed our suspicions ... for the first time, we could clearly see that the moon has another side, back around where we cannot see it. And that was about all we could really tell from those 1959 photos, because their quality was so poor.


What is the name of the side of the moon that we don't see the dark side?

The Moon spins at the same rate that it orbits the Earth, keeping one face turned toward the Earth. The terms "near side" and "far side" are correct to describe the two sides of the Moon. Until the Soviet Luna 3 satellite orbited the Moon in 1959, we had no clue what the far side of the Moon looked like.


What faces do the moon have?

The Moon always presents the same side of itself to Earth, thus nobody had seen the other side of the Moon (i.e. the other half) until a rocket orbited the Moon.


Is the back of the moon ever visible?

The back side of the Moon always faces away from Earth and is not visible. The Apollo 8 astronauts were the first people to view the back side of the moon directly, when they orbited the moon. The first pictures of the back side of the moon were taken by the Soviet Union's Luna 3 space probe in 1959.


Looking for the meaning of a quarter moon on the peak of the east side of an old house and a half moon on the peak of the westside?

how did the moon get its nameIt is unknown when the last quarter moon was. A quarter mood is with the moon is 50% covered with clouds.


Where is the dark side of the moon as it moves to full?

From Earth, you can only see ONE side of the moon. And that is the same side that has been facing us for as long as I can remember. The moon does not rotate its face. I'm afraid you can't ever see the dark side of moon from Earth :(


What year did the first picture of the dark side of the moon taken?

The first photo was of the far side of the moon was taken in 1959 by Luna 3, the Soviet space craft. It was first directly observed by Apollo 8 in 1968.


Why are there no maps of the far side of the moon?

There are plenty of maps of the far side of the moon, simply type "moon map far side" into the web browser of your choice. But we had to wait until we could get something to orbit the moon to get them, as the Moon always have the same side facing Earth. The Earth side, we could make maps as soon as we hade decent telescopes. And of course, you have no way of knowing if they are correct or not.


What was the first spacecraft to observe the dark side of the Moon?

The first spacecraft to observe the dark side of the Moon was the Soviet Luna 3 probe in 1959. It captured the first images of the far side of the Moon and transmitted them back to Earth using a radio transmitter. These images provided valuable insights into the previously unseen hemisphere of the Moon.


Do we see only one side of the moon?

Yes, we can see only one side (face) of the Moon. This is called the "near side". The "far side" is not visible from anywhere on Earth's surface. This is because the Moon has become "tidally locked" to the Earth due to gravity. The Moon still rotates, but the period of that rotation is now exactly equal to its period of revolution around the Earth. Due to slight changes called libration, we can see slightly more than half of the Moon over the time of its orbit. The appearance of most the "far side" of the Moon was completely unknown before the Soviet Union sent a space probe in 1959 to circle the Moon and take photographs of the far side. * It is not accurate to call the far side of the Moon the "dark side". Every place on the Moon has a regular cycle of daylight (sun up in the sky) and darkness (sun below the horizon and not visible in the sky). The Moon's "daytime" and "night-time" are each about 14.8 days, at every place on the near side AND the far side. Wherever you might be on the Moon, you have a cycle of light and dark, just as you do on Earth. But whereas the complete cycle repeats every 24 HOURS on Earth, it's 29.5 DAYS on the Moon.


What are the 2 sides of the moon?

The Moon has two sides: the near side and the far side. The near side faces Earth and is characterized by large, dark basaltic plains known as "maria," while the far side is mostly rocky highlands and lacks these large plains. Although both sides experience sunlight, the far side was not observed by humans until the Soviet Luna 3 mission in 1959. The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, meaning it rotates on its axis in the same time it takes to orbit Earth, resulting in only one side being visible from our planet.


Why is the moon always dark on the opposite side?

No. Just like almost every place on earth, almost every place on the moon has a 'daytime' ... when the sun is up and the ground is light ... followed by a 'nighttime' ... when the sun is down and the ground is dark. On earth, the sun-up and sun-down periods average out to 12 hours each. On the moon, they average out to almost two earth-weeks each.