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The moon is tidally locked with the Earth, which means the same side always faces the Earth. So, for example, when the moon is between the Earth and the sun, th
by nkrisc 7mo ago
The moon is tidally locked with the Earth, which means the same side always faces the Earth. So, for example, when the moon is between the Earth and the sun, the far side (from the perspective of Earth) would be fully illuminated by the sun.
The “far side” of the moon refers to the hemisphere that can’t be seen from Earth.
- dust42 7mo agoYes, and right now is full moon, thus the far side is only illuminated by stars.
- davidw 7mo agoI wonder why they decided on that timing? If it were better illuminated by the sun, couldn't they get some better photography?
- ranger207 7mo agoThey want to fly by at lunar sunrise as the shadows help see depth better. Also, they have very sensitive cameras (up to 3,280,000 ISO!); the Earth photo the other day was taken at night, so you can see how they'll be able to get detail even in the dark parts
- smilespray 7mo ago640 ISO ought to be enough for anyone.
- brabel 7mo agoMy guess is that this mission is not about imaging the far side of the Moon at all as that has been done already.
- davidw 7mo agoFair, but these images are going to get a lot of public attention, so making them good ones would be worthwhile.
- NooneAtAll3 7mo agocurrent 2nd stage is underpowered, so it has to be compensated by 1st stage right from the start and since launchpad is in the north hemisphere, Moon has to be at the south part of its orbit
- _moof 7mo agoThis is a vehicle test, not a sightseeing trip. Photography is not the priority.
- dust42 7mo agoThe social media team.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- layer8 7mo agoAnd a little bit by asteroids like 20 Massalia and comets like 24P/Schaumasse.
- _moof 7mo agoIt isn't full right now. It's a waning gibbous, so the far side is a waxing crescent.
- dust42 7mo agoWell, mathematically full moon is only a infinitesimally small split of a second. When I made the comment it was about 12% waxing crescent thus 88% in the dark. And actually darker than a full moon because the earth does not light up the far side.