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"Dark side" is a misnomer if anyone doesn't know this. The Moon is tide-locked to Earth which means the same side always faces us, but it's not tide-locked to t
by api 2y ago
"Dark side" is a misnomer if anyone doesn't know this. The Moon is tide-locked to Earth which means the same side always faces us, but it's not tide-locked to the Sun. The dark side gets plenty of sunlight.
A lot of folks don't realize how unusual Luna is. The Earth has a gigantic satellite relative to its own size, and this might be part of what makes our planet so habitable. It does a number of things: tides, climate stability, and catching or deflecting extinction-level-event objects that would otherwise hit Earth. Earth would almost certainly still be a habitable planet without it but maybe not as stable.
- bookofjoe 2y agoSee also: '3-Body Problem'
- gravescale 2y agoYou'd think spacenews.com could get that right: was it really in their title before?
- T-A 2y ago> "Dark side" is a misnomer if anyone doesn't know this. This guy probably does... now: https://x.com/3c3p3d/status/1782753666488774697 https://x.com/3c3p3d/status/1782753666488774697
- ortusdux 2y agoAs I understand it, the term was originally "radio-dark side", and was used to explain the signal blackouts during Apollo lunar orbits to the public.
- ASalazarMX 2y agoIt also could be dark in the "unknown" sense, not literally. Before getting pedantic with the dark side of the Moon, English academics should first fix why you can "drink a drink" but you can't "food a food", that's making my English lessons hard.
- me_me_me 2y agoThere is no darkside of a moon really, matter of fact its all dark.
- jan_Sate 2y agoInteresting. In my mother tongue it's called "back side" instead of "dark side". Looks like that "back side" is a more correct term for that.
- api 2y agoBack side is much more correct but in colloquial English it sounds like you’re talking about the Moon’s butt. This would also mean if the Moon lost its tide lock and spun around it would be Mooning us. Dark side sounds cooler and more mysterious.
- complianceowl 2y agoOrbiting planets be like, "Dang, look at the moon's back side."
- duchenne 2y agoIn French, it is called the "hidden face of the Moon", obviously because we cannot see it from the Earth point of view.
- tantalor 2y agoIt's not a misnomer. "Dark" has multiple senses. In this case, it's "unknown, hidden, mysterious, secret". > The hemisphere has sometimes been called the "dark side of the Moon", where "dark" means "unknown" instead of "lacking sunlight" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_side_of_the_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_side_of_the_Moon More examples: - Dark matter - Dark continent - Dark knight - Dark web