The Two Faces of the Moon

by Christopher Paul on July 13, 2014

Our moon has two “faces” — the near and the far. We only see one of them because the moon’s orbit doesn’t rotate the way Earth does. But we know from satellites, the two sides are very different. It was once thought the differences between the near, smoother, side that faces us and the far, cratered, side we can’t see with our eyes was due to impacts left behind from meteors and other space objects.

It turns out that’s not entirely true.

I won’t give it away but scientists believe they know why the surface closest to us is almost nothing like the side we can’t see.

via The Loop

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