Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Do we always see the same side of the moon when it turns around us?

The Moon's rotation is considered "synchronous," meaning
that it always presents the same face to the Earth.  Most moons so far discovered are of
this type, where the orbiting moon shows the same face to the parent body.  This occurs
because over time, the gravitational interaction between the parent body and the moon
come to a stable rotation.  However, in the case of our own Moon, there is a process
known as "libration"  (from the Latin "libra", meaning a balance scale) or asynchronous
rotation, where the Moon actually rocks back and forth relative to the Earth over the
course of its monthly journey. Because of this swinging or rocking, we can see a bit
more of either edge of the Moon, so about 59% of the "dark side" of the lunar surface is
actually visible from Earth. This "swing" has been slowing down over the eons; in the
far future, the Moon's rotation will in fact be completely synchronous. Considering the
far past, however, computer models have suggested that at one time, in its early life,
the Moon actually orbited the Earth in 10 hours (!) and and spun on its axis such that
the whole lunar surface was visible. This was, of course, before any life form existed
on Earth to see it.

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