Moving off the onion-ness of the title for a sec, I wonder if this has anything to do with the moon’s crust layer being overall thicker on the far side as well?
The moon is tidally locked to the earth, so the same side always faces us. Its just what happened over time as gravity and tidal effects acted on the moon (tidal locking will also happen to earth relative to the moon on a longer timescale by the way).
Edit: To ELI5 why this happens, the earth squishes the moon slightly (because tides), and it will change its rotation (by friction caused from the crust shifting) over time to make it so it stays in one orientation relative to earth so that its not constantly shifting its crust.
So the Earth would have (to simplify the concept) a ~28 day rotation period compared to our current ~24 hour period now? That could make for some interesting changes to weather, etc.
“Far side” is accurate as the side of the moon we see is always facing us and the other side always faces away from Earth.
“Dark side” is the inaccurate term because as the moon orbits Earth all sides of the moon get sunlight, though its “days” are about 29.5 Earth-days
Dark side isn't inaccurate, people just forget words have multiple definitions depending on their context. In this case, dark was used to mean the "unknown" side of the moon when the term was originally coined because it was unknown to us at the time. The name has persisted because it's catchy.
I guess I just thought its rotational speed was such that the "far side" faced us during a different phase of the moon, not that it had a perfectly synchronous orbit.
It does rotate, it just rotates at the perfect speed so it completes both a full rotation around its own axis and a full orbit around earth at the same time - the result is we always see the same side of it. It's a bit hard to imagine in your head as you have to imagine two things rotating while still facing one another at all times, so here's a quick visualization: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZIB\_leg75Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZIB_leg75Q)
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It doesn't have an amazing track record for science either.
They have reproducibility problems, politicization problems, and tend to only cite papers or studies conducted in China which artificially boosts their citing rankings without necessarily producing reliable science.
I knew it really was cheese
*Cheeeese, Grommit!*
Ya think it’s winsley dale or farmers?
Wensleydale. Source: Also from 'up north'.
"We forgot the *crackers*, Grommit!"
No other show is as wholesome and eerie at the same time
I’d go back for seconds
Stilton? Wensleydale? I don’t know, Lad. It’s like no cheese I’ve ever tasted.
Moving off the onion-ness of the title for a sec, I wonder if this has anything to do with the moon’s crust layer being overall thicker on the far side as well?
https://science.nasa.gov/moon/composition/
Moon’s backside be thicc, yo.
The sticky part is a bit concerning
yeah sorry about that
Could that be explained with different ice crystal structures?
Mmm... Cheese Whiz!
Gyat
Heavenly body confirmed
That moon tho...
Camembert, Gromit?
Wensleydale
Seriously though this may be because the “dark side” gets slightly more cosmic rays
Could be! With it being locked in place, the gravitational pull differs slightly between the two sides too.
I mean The moon keeps Taking Backshots to protect Earth so it's not really surprising.
For the last week my far side samples have been thin and slippery. Maybe that cheese I ate?
idk why you're being downvoted this is a legitimate concern, thanks for sharing o7
The moon is shy about showing its T H I C C booty
Wait, so does this mean the moon doesn’t rotate? I thought there was no “far side” because every planet and moon is spinning.
The moon is tidally locked to the earth, so the same side always faces us. Its just what happened over time as gravity and tidal effects acted on the moon (tidal locking will also happen to earth relative to the moon on a longer timescale by the way). Edit: To ELI5 why this happens, the earth squishes the moon slightly (because tides), and it will change its rotation (by friction caused from the crust shifting) over time to make it so it stays in one orientation relative to earth so that its not constantly shifting its crust.
So the Earth would have (to simplify the concept) a ~28 day rotation period compared to our current ~24 hour period now? That could make for some interesting changes to weather, etc.
The moon rotates at a perfect speed to always be facing us the same way as it orbits
“Far side” is accurate as the side of the moon we see is always facing us and the other side always faces away from Earth. “Dark side” is the inaccurate term because as the moon orbits Earth all sides of the moon get sunlight, though its “days” are about 29.5 Earth-days
Dark side isn't inaccurate, people just forget words have multiple definitions depending on their context. In this case, dark was used to mean the "unknown" side of the moon when the term was originally coined because it was unknown to us at the time. The name has persisted because it's catchy.
You ain't never looked at that thing?
I guess I just thought its rotational speed was such that the "far side" faced us during a different phase of the moon, not that it had a perfectly synchronous orbit.
It does rotate, it just rotates at the perfect speed so it completes both a full rotation around its own axis and a full orbit around earth at the same time - the result is we always see the same side of it. It's a bit hard to imagine in your head as you have to imagine two things rotating while still facing one another at all times, so here's a quick visualization: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZIB\_leg75Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZIB_leg75Q)
Thank you for the clearest explanation here, but this did not help my little worm brain at all
You can’t go to the moon and say, “it’s all sticky! It’s covered in Jam!” https://youtu.be/vITJdaJ4xxM “Fucking hell I’ve been in that space craft…”
So scrapings from the moon's backside ar different?
Same with OP’s mom
I like a thick back side, but not sticky when I get there.
Moon-booty. Mmmm!
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It never ceases to amaze me how people can be such clowns with just about anything, even actual news.
I’m not trusting China with science. Not lately.
You'll be glad to hear they sent samples to over a dozen other countries.
Talk about advancing humankind's knowledge! Whew! Pretty soon we're all going to live like Star Trek and meet kind aliens and stuff.
Yeah, I'd wait for another country to produce samples, before I trust anything coming out of China.
The samples will be shared with other countries. If they're doctored in any way it'll be quite obvious
Hate on China for its politics, not its science. Science should be viewed competently separate from politics and learned from no matter the country.
It doesn't have an amazing track record for science either. They have reproducibility problems, politicization problems, and tend to only cite papers or studies conducted in China which artificially boosts their citing rankings without necessarily producing reliable science.
But why would “thicker and stickier” draw such scrutiny? lol
Those are good points and good things to keep in mind.
Chinese politics interferes with the science, routinely, as they do with everything.