What do we know about the far side of the moon?

The moon’s mysterious far side is so much different than its near side, which we see in the night sky, and now scientists think they know why. In fact, observations have shown that only about 1\% of the moon’s far side is covered with maria, or craters caused by volcanic activity on the moon.

What did the astronauts do with the lunar rovers when they were done with them?

The rover was folded and stored in the bay with the underside of the chassis facing out. One astronaut would climb the egress ladder on the LM and release the rover, which would then be slowly tilted out by the second astronaut on the ground through the use of reels and tapes.

What do we call the side of the moon we Cannot see?

There is a ‘dark side’ of the moon, but you are probably using the term incorrectly all of the time. People often say “dark side” of the moon when referring to the lunar face we can’t see from Earth. This common use of the phrase is wrong — the term scientists use is the “far side.”

Why does the far side of the moon look different?

The near side of the moon (left) looks very different from the far side. The American Geophysical Union announced a new study on May 20, 2019, based on new evidence about the moon’s crust, suggesting the differences were caused by a wayward dwarf planet colliding with the moon in the early history of the solar system.

How long till we lose the Moon?

Calculations of the evolution of the Earth/Moon system tell us that with this rate of separation that in about 15 billion years the Moon will stop moving away from the Earth.

Can we see the backside of the Moon?

As the Earth is much larger than the Moon, the Moon’s rotation is slowed down until it reaches a balance point. As this NASA animation shows (right), this means that the same portion of the Moon always faces towards the Earth, and we can never see the far side.

How did astronauts navigate on the moon?

Apollo astronauts used three navigation systems to determine the proper flight paths to the Moon and back to Earth. An optical navigation system consisted of a scanning telescope and a sextant. With these instruments the astronauts could take star sights and plot the position of their spacecraft.

Can you ever see the dark side of the moon?

Tidal locking As the Earth is much larger than the Moon, the Moon’s rotation is slowed down until it reaches a balance point. As this NASA animation shows (right), this means that the same portion of the Moon always faces towards the Earth, and we can never see the far side.