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The 'far side' is always the far side because the moon is tidally locked with earth. The moon turns on its axis exactly once for every orbit around the earth. This isn't obvious at first; it may take some thinking to realize that this must be true.

More detail for the stout of heart:

It is really not correct to refer to the 'dark side' of the moon. It is no more dark, and is no less dark, than any other part of the moon (with a minor exception*). It is better to refer to it as the 'far side' of the moon. The entire moon goes through a day-night cycle just like the earth, except that on the moon an entire day is the same length of time as a full cycle of lunar phases. The phases of the moon as we observe them over the course of a month are nothing more than the month-long 'day' slowly passing around the moon's surface. When it is 'new moon' from our point of view, the far side of the moon is in full sunlight.

*On average, it turns out that the part of the moon visible from earth is slightly darker than what we incorrectly call the 'dark side', because it is our face of the moon, the near side, that occasionally experiences the full cover of earth's shadow. This never happens on the far side, because the earth can never block sunlight that would otherwise illuminate the far side! The full earth never appears in the sky relative to the far side of the moon**. This is just another reason to consider the term 'dark side' to be incorrect.

**At the limbs or outer edges of the visible face of the moon there is some variability because of some effects called libration, an apparent wobble in the moon's motion. Because of this wobble some slivers of the far side of the moon are sometimes visible from earth, and therefore some part of earth may be visible from those locations on the moon. So the earth can never block sunlight to the far side beyond a very small percentage at any one time.

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15y ago

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Related Questions

When you see the moon is full moon?

You can see the moon when it is not full. The sun lights up part of the moon, but if you look carefully when the moon is not full, you can see the darker parts. This is easier when only a small part of the moon appears to be lit, as a brighter moon glares out the darker part making it harder to see.


Can people on earth always see thee part of the moon that is illuminated?

No, we can see only 59% of the moon.


What needs to happen for a new moon to occur?

The moon does not actually change shape - when we only see part of the moon, that's because that's the only part the sun illuminates from our point on Earth. When we see a new moon, however, that means the sun is illuminating nothing on the moon that we can see.


How are we able to see the moon if it doesn't make its own light?

We can only see the parts of the moon that are directly in sunlight - this is why we see only part of the moon during its phases as it passes in and out of the direct light of the sun.


Is the part of the moon we don't see from earth always in shadow?

No, it's only in shadow when the part we can see is lit.


Why do you only see a percentage of the moon?

You only see a percentage of the moon because the Earth is blocking the light from the sun which then reflects off the moon. The other part of the moon has no light shining on it, therefore it cannot be seen


Why are we able to see the moon?

We are able to see the moon because the sun's light reflects off of it. We are able to see only the part that is reflecting the light.


Can people only see the part of the moon where the sun is shining on it?

This is essentially correct. When part of the moon is in darkness, we can't see it. Additionally, the same side of the moon faces earth all the time as our satellite is locked in its orbit to constantly face earth. We only see the portion of the moon that is both illuminated by the sun and facing the earth.


Why same image will present in moon?

It is because we can see only one part of moon due to earth ratotation


Why do you have full moons?

The sun is always shining at the moon. However, sometimes we can only see part of the moon that the sun is shining on. When the sun is behind us and the moon in front of us, we can see all of the part of the moon that the sun is shining on. If the sun is behind us and the moon is to the left or right of us, we can see part of the moon that the sun is shining on and part that it isn't shining on. However, because that part of the moon is so dark, we cant really see it all, so we see a half moon. As the moon orbits the Earth wee see more or less part of it lit up. The moon then seems to disappear altogether, which is because we can't see any part of the moon being lit up. The moon is getting fuller at present, so each night we see a bit more of it lit up. After it is full we will begin to see less of it being lit up.


Why is the moon dark once a month?

The moon rotates on its axis and since the death also does,when the sun's light hits part of it we see only parts of the moon and sometimes we see the out line of the rest of the m moon.


What does the moon do that cause you to see only parts of its lighted face?

the part that you don't see is covered by the clouds, therefore you can't see it.