2023-12-30 03:17:44
When the Moon orbits our planet, it always turns the same face towards us but in reality it has another which appears hidden to us: the reason for this phenomenon lies in the fact that its rotation period (i.e. the time it takes for the Moon to complete one revolution on itself) is equal to its own orbital period (i.e. the time it takes to complete one complete revolution around the Earth), an effect called rotation synchronecommon to many natural satellites of the solar system.
In this article we will discover the ” hidden face “ of the Moon to tell what were the stages of its explorationwhich only started in 1959.
What’s on the other side of the Moon
The first photos of the face of the Moon opposite to the direction of the Earth were taken October 7, 1959 from the Soviet investigation Lune-3. Launched from the Cosmodrome Baikonur In Kazakhstan, the probe was the first to fly over the far side of the Moon. The images sent to Earth are obviously of very poor quality compared to those we have today, but they constitute the the first time in which humans laid eyes on the face of “hidden side” of the Moonalthough it is the astronomically closest object to our planet.
The photographs of Lune 3 (and subsequently other lunar probes which observed the “far side” of the Moon) showed us at the same time a surface very similar but also very different of the face we knew. There surface of the “hidden side” it was actually similar to that of trays of the known face, covered with dust which appeared in clear tone when illuminated by the light of the Sun, and dotted with numerous craters, large and small; the surface, however, was almost entirely free from dark areasthe “seas” of basalt rocks which characterize the face of the Moon that we have always known.
The most notable feature of the Moon’s “far side” is in fact a large area barely visible to visual observation, known as the South Pole-Aitken Basina huge depression 2,500 km wide (about the size of Western Europe) and up to 6000 meters in the southern hemisphere of the face of the Moon opposite the Earth: it is a gigantic meteorite crater, the largest impact mark on the Moon and one of the largest in the solar system. Because it is a large area with poorly defined boundaries, it is difficult to observe in photographs, but it appears immediately on elevation maps of the lunar surface.
Because the two faces of the Moon are different
To be explication probably lies in the combination of several factors, such as chemical composition and that thickness of the lunar crust in the two hemispheres: this geological difference has resulted in a different behavior of the side closest to the Earth, subjecting it to a greater number of magmatic outcropscreated directly on measteroid impact on its surface, or due to intense volcanic episodes triggered by impacts on the opposite side. The two largest seas located on the “far side” of the Moon are the Moscow Sea and the Sea of ingenuitybut together they constitute less than 3% from the surface of the far side of the Moon; for comparison, the lunar seas that can be observed from Earth constitute more than 30% of the facial surface closest to our planet.
Being mainly made up of trays olderthe “far side” of the Moon is also richer than impact craters. The most recognizable is probably the Jackson Crater (dedicated to the Scottish astronomer John Jackson), characterized by a wide ray system which originate from the impact site, made up of lighter-colored material raised by the crash of the asteroid that gave rise to the event.
A curiosity: there is no “hidden side” of the Moon
Contrary to what we often hear, There is no “dark side” on the Moon.
Or rather: like all objects in the solar system, the Moon receives light from Soleil, which illuminates half of it, leaving the other half in darkness. But this “half dark” it’s not always the same: change depending on which side the Moon faces the Sun (exactly as is the case for the Terreon the surface of which, for the same reason, the jour and the Nuit). From the combination between position of the Moon in relation to the Earth and the direction where the light of the Sun comes from, let’s observe it lunar phases: New Moon, Waxing Moon, Full Moon, Waning Moon, then New Moon again.
The idea of a “dark side” of the Moon also took root in popular culture through the album’s title “The Dark Side of the Moon” from Pink FloydPublished in 1973 with the famous blanket Noir with the prism that divides a ray of light into seven colors of the iris.
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