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there is no dark side of the moon (except for a pretty cool album)
by VMG 6y ago
there is no dark side of the moon (except for a pretty cool album)
- Out_of_Characte 6y agoThe moon is tidally locked to earth, that's what's called the 'dark side' of the moon from earth's perspective.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y agoAs a matter of fact, it's all dark. But seriously, the "dark side" of the moon is the side we can never see from earth. It isn't literally dark so much as just unseen. Consider similar usages like "dark energy" or "a shot in the dark".
- pdabbadabba 6y agoIsn't it true that the far side is darker? The near side will be illuminated either by the sun directly or by light bouncing off the earth. The far side is also, of course, intermittently illuminated by the sun. But when it isn't, wouldn't it be much darker?
- inglor_cz 6y agoAlbedo of the rocks matters. Almost all the lunar maria, which are very dark, are on the near side. So, in those places, you get some extra light from the Earth, but less of it is going to be reflected from the ground towards your eyes. The far side is mostly highlands, with albedo twice as high.
- ben_w 6y agoThat is interesting, but does it matter? No atmosphere to diffuse the light reflecting off the ground and in so doing interfere with a telescope.
- inglor_cz 6y agoOh, yes, I forgot we were talking about telescopes and thought about perspective of a human walking around, who cannot escape the reflected light.
- BitwiseFool 6y agoBut there are craters near the poles where sun never shines and I assume that's what they mean.