Why do people see one side of the moon? Why do we only see one side of the Moon? Interesting facts related to the Moon

And beautiful, it has attracted the eyes of astronomers since ancient times. Even then, many of its features were noticed: phase changes, sunrise and sunset times, duration lunar month. Ancient scientists also noticed the constancy of the face of the night star. True, in those days they did not ask the question of why the Moon turned one side to the Earth. For them, this was the only possible position, fully consistent with the prevailing beliefs about the structure of the sky.

Today things are a little different. Our ideas about the movement and interaction of space objects, supported by numerous observations, are very different from those that existed in ancient times. And almost everyone knows from school why the Moon is turned to the Earth on one side.

The beginning of the story

Today, one of the secrets that the Moon stubbornly refuses to reveal to us is its origin. Various studies, carried out in order to obtain a final answer to this question, have so far given rise to several versions. According to one of them, the Moon and Earth are sisters, formed at approximately the same time from a common protoplanetary cloud. This is supported by the results of radioisotope analysis, which made it possible to determine the same age of two cosmic bodies. However, there is also evidence indicating large differences in the composition of our planet and its satellite. A version has been put forward to match them: the Moon was formed somewhere far in space and, approaching the Earth, was captured by it. Close to it is the hypothesis that suggests that several cosmic objects were attracted, which after some time collided and formed the Moon. Finally, there is a theory according to which our planet is rather a mother for its satellite: the Moon appeared as a result of the collision of the Earth with huge body. The knocked out part subsequently began to rotate in orbit around the “progenitor”.

Satellite-planet system

Be that as it may, all that is known for certain is that the Moon is natural satellite Earth. According to astronomical data, the night star at the time of its formation was located much closer to our planet. Moreover, it flew around the Earth faster and turned first one way or the other. This situation is typical for initial stage evolution of the satellite-planet system. An example of the result of the development of such “relationships” is Pluto and its accompanying Charon. Both cosmic bodies always turn the same side to each other, their rotation is synchronized. But first things first.

Tidal acceleration

The young Moon immediately began to affect the Earth. This was expressed in the formation of tidal waves in the newly formed oceans, as well as in the crust. This effect has two main consequences. Firstly, as a result of certain features and its rotation, the tidal wave is ahead of the Moon. The entire mass of our planet contained in such waves, in turn, affects the satellite, gives it acceleration, and the Moon begins to move faster, gradually moving away from the Earth. Secondly, in this process an oppositely directed force appears, inhibiting the movement of the continents. As a result, the speed of rotation of the Earth around its axis decreases, and the length of the day increases.

The Moon is moving away from our planet by about 4 cm per year. However, this is not an eternal process, and the probability of the Earth losing its satellite is negligible. The “escape” of the Moon will end at the moment when the rotation of the Earth around its axis is synchronized with the movement of the satellite in orbit. In this case, our planet will always look at the night star with the same side.

Similar process

It is easy to assume that the answer to the question of why the Moon is turned to the Earth on one side is associated with a similar phenomenon. Indeed, the Earth causes similar tidal waves in the bowels of the satellite. Since our planet is more massive, the force of its impact is much more noticeable. Obeying her, the Moon has long synchronized its rotation with its movement around the Earth. As a result, an always visible and invisible side of the Moon appeared.

A little more than half

An attentive amateur astronomer can quickly discover that the face of the night star does change somewhat. Visible side The moon does not occupy exactly half of it. The orbit of the night star deviates from the plane of rotation of the Earth around the Sun (ecliptic) by approximately 5º. In addition, its axis is shifted by 1.5º relative to the trajectory of the Moon. As a result, up to 6.5º above and below the poles of the satellite are available for observation. This process is called lunar latitude libration. The satellite's longitude fluctuates similarly. It is caused by a change in the speed of the Moon depending on the distance to the Earth. Due to this, the part of the satellite hidden from view is reduced, and the other side of the Moon, illuminated, increases to 7º longitude. So it turns out that in total up to 59% of the lunar surface can be observed.

In the distant future

So, the question of why the Moon always faces the Earth with one side finds an answer in the peculiarities of the influence of the planet’s gravitational force on the satellite. However, as was said, a similar process after a certain time will lead to the fact that the Earth will look at the night star with only one part of it, regardless of what phase the Moon is in. According to the calculations of John Darwin, the grandson of the founder of the theory of evolution, the length of the day at this moment will be equal to fifty days familiar to us. The distance separating the Earth and the Moon will increase by about one and a half times. This will be the very ideal state of the “satellite-planet” system.

Solar tides

There is, however, some probability that the Moon will never be destined to reach sufficient distance. The reason for this possibility lies in solar tides. The daylight has a similar effect to the moon on both the planet and the satellite. If we include this fact in the theoretical construction of the future of the two cosmic bodies, it turns out that at a certain distance from the Earth the Moon will begin to approach again. This reduction in distance will have devastating consequences. When the Moon is at a distance of 2.9, it will be torn apart by gravitational forces.

One more “but”

However, this picture may not be realized. The fact is that according to forecasts, the removal of the Moon, then its approach and, finally, death will take several trillion years. During this time, a catastrophe on a more serious scale may occur, at least for all life on the planet. The Sun will go out, having exhausted all its reserves of stellar fuel. Following this, all conditions of interaction in the planetary system of the star will change.

Study

The other side of the Moon, inaccessible to direct observation, for a long time was a mystery, literally covered in darkness. It only gave me the opportunity to get to know her better. First aircraft The one that photographed about 70% of the surface of the hidden part was the Soviet Luna 3. The images transmitted to Earth showed that the relief of the reverse side was somewhat different from the nature of the visible surface. There were practically no plains of seas here. Only two were found similar education, later called the Sea of ​​Moscow and the Sea of ​​Dreams.

Giant crater

In 1965, the Zond-3 spacecraft headed towards the Moon. He completed filming the invisible part of the satellite. The image of the remaining 30% of the surface only confirmed the earlier conclusions: the surface in this part is covered with craters and mountains, but there are practically no seas on it.

The most impressive size is one of the craters, located exactly on dark side Moons. Its length is 2250 km and its depth is 12 km.

Hypotheses

Today the mysteries have largely been solved. However, it is common for the human mind to fantasize about those things and phenomena that are inaccessible to direct observation. Therefore, on the Internet it is easy to come across the most bizarre hypotheses related to the entire Moon as a whole or only to its hidden side. There are assumptions about the artificial origin of the satellite, its population by extraterrestrial intelligence and the deliberate concealment of one of the parties. There are also references to a mysterious space base located on the dark part of the satellite. Such versions are quite difficult to both confirm and refute. No matter how true or false they may be, they are based on the same reason that prompted people to explore space: the hope of finding fellow humans in the vast expanses of the Universe, the desire to touch the unknown.

However, today it is known quite precisely why the Moon is turned to the Earth on one side. And the assumption of artificial origin did not receive any serious continuation. The answer to this question became as obvious as the understanding of what phase the Moon is in today and why. It is impossible, however, to say that we know everything about the earth’s satellite and no discoveries are expected in the future. On the contrary, the night luminary matches the ancient deities who personified it, remains mysterious and is in no hurry to share secrets. Humanity still has to learn a lot of interesting things about the satellite of our planet. Maybe, new stage The study that began quite recently will bear fruit in the near future. It's absolutely certain that great value In this sense, the implementation of some NASA projects has. Among them is Avatar, which consists of developing a telepresence suit. It will allow, while on Earth, to conduct experiments on the Moon with the help of robots. Great hopes are also placed on the colonization project, the implementation of which will result in the placement of a scientific base on the satellite of our planet.

The Moon floats high in the sky, bright, beautiful, with dark spots on its shiny disk. On a full moon, it resembles someone’s round, good-natured, slightly mocking face. We always see her like this. And before us, for thousands of years, people looked at the exact same Moon and the dark spots were distributed on it in the same way, which make it look like a human face. For thousands of years, people have been observing changes in her bright face - from the thin sickle of a newborn month to the full radiance of her disk. Meanwhile, the Moon is a ball, the same as other planets, including our Earth, on which you and I live. But the Moon never shows us its other side, we do not see it. Why?

The Moon rotates around its axis and at the same time makes its way around the Earth, because it is a satellite of the Earth.

In twenty-nine and a half days it completes its revolution around the Earth, and... it takes the same amount of time to turn around its axis - so slowly does it complete this revolution. And that's the whole point. That's why we always see only one side of her.

But how does this happen? So that you can imagine this more clearly, let's do a little experiment. Take some small table (if there is no table, a chair or something else that is more convenient for you, that will be at hand). This chair will be the imaginary Earth, and you yourself will be the Moon, which revolves around the Earth. Start moving around the table, remaining facing it the entire time. At the beginning of your movement, for example, you saw a window in front of you, but then, as you make your circle around the table (that is, the Earth), this window will be behind you, and only at the end of the path will you see it again . This will only confirm that you have turned not only around the table, but also around yourself, your axis.

That's how the Moon is. It rotates around the Earth and at the same time around its own axis.

But everyone now knows that we finally saw the far side of the Moon! How did this happen? Do you remember?.. However, no, you don’t remember this: in those years you were still too young! And this happened in 1959, when Soviet scientists launched an automatic station towards the Moon, which flew around our satellite and transmitted images from the other side to us on Earth. And people all over the world saw the far side of the Moon for the first time!

And that's not all. A few years later, Soviet scientists again sent an automatic station towards the Moon, and this time again photographs were taken and sent to Earth. Thanks to the photographs, scientists then compiled the first map of both sides of the lunar surface, and then a new color map of the Moon with lunar seas, mountain ranges, the most important peaks, ring crater mountains, and circuses.

While I was writing these pages, one news followed another. Before I had time to tell you about the new color map, an amazing event happened: in February 1966, the world’s first automatic station, ours, the Soviet one, landed on the Earth’s satellite! She made, as scientists say, a soft landing - this means that she landed on the Moon smoothly, without breaking the equipment.

Having softly landed on the moon, the automatic station immediately began to work hard - it sent more and more pictures of the lunar surface, and these pictures were taken on close range. But this is extremely important! The images were large and accurate: scientists simply pounced on these amazing documents and looked at them carefully; Now they saw what the surface of the Moon was like, what was on it, they affirmed or, on the contrary, changed their points of view about the lunar surface.

Luna 9 made a soft landing on our satellite, the Moon. And soon after that, in March 1966, Luna 10 was launched.

She began to fly around the moon, that is, she became her artificial satellite, and Luna-10’s instruments sent messages to Earth that research scientists needed to better know our celestial neighbor.

“Luna-10” made its endless flight around the Moon, so close and familiar, and in the first days the whole world could hear the melody of the Communist anthem, “The Internationale,” coming from it.

After “Luna-10” there were also “Luna-11”, and “Luna-12”, and “Luna-14”, and “Luna-16”... They always soar into space our messengers, they are laying the first paths to our heavenly neighbor. And the most difficult and most important thing is always what is done for the first time!

However, the news recent years amazing! American astronauts spaceship Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins were the first to fly to the Moon in July 1969, two of them, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, stepped on its surface, the third, Michael Collins, was waiting for them, making circles around the Moon .

The names of these cosmonauts will go down in history just like the name of our glorious Gagarin, who was the first to go into space and see our planet Earth from the outside.

And a very special place in the study of our celestial neighbor is occupied by the amazing Lunokhod-4 apparatus, delivered to the Moon in November 1970. He worked hard there, doing man's work to explore the lunar surface. This amazing device only worked on a lunar day, when it could charge its batteries from solar energy. And on a moonlit night he rested, as they affectionately said about him: he slept.

Really, all this looks like a fairy tale.

And it may well happen that during the time this book is being printed, new amazing events will occur and we will have to expand this chapter, although at first we were going to talk about only one thing: why we don’t see the far side of the Moon.

The Moon floats high in the sky, bright, beautiful, with dark spots on its shiny disk. On a full moon, it resembles someone’s round, good-natured, slightly mocking face. We always see her like this. And before us, for thousands of years, people looked at the exact same Moon and the dark spots were distributed on it in the same way, which make it look like a human face. For thousands of years, people have been observing changes in her bright face - from the thin sickle of a newborn month to the full radiance of her disk. Meanwhile, the Moon is a ball, the same as other planets, including our Earth, on which you and I live. But the Moon never shows us its other side, we do not see it. Why?

The Moon rotates around its axis and at the same time makes its way around the Earth, because it is a satellite of the Earth.

In twenty-nine and a half days it completes its revolution around the Earth, and... it takes the same amount of time to turn around its axis - so slowly does it complete this revolution. And that's the whole point. That's why we always see only one side of her.

But how does this happen? So that you can imagine this more clearly, let's do a little experiment. Take some small table (if there is no table, a chair or something else that is more convenient for you, that will be at hand). This chair will be the imaginary Earth, and you yourself will be the Moon, which revolves around the Earth. Start moving around the table, remaining facing it the entire time. At the beginning of your movement, for example, you saw a window in front of you, but then, as you make your circle around the table (that is, the Earth), this window will be behind you, and only at the end of the path will you see it again . This will only confirm that you have turned not only around the table, but also around yourself, your axis.

That's how the Moon is. It rotates around the Earth and at the same time around its own axis.

But everyone now knows that we finally saw the far side of the Moon! How did this happen? Do you remember?.. However, no, you don’t remember this: in those years you were still too young! And this happened in 1959, when Soviet scientists launched an automatic station towards the Moon, which flew around our satellite and transmitted images from the other side to us on Earth. And people all over the world saw the far side of the Moon for the first time!

And that's not all. A few years later, Soviet scientists again sent an automatic station towards the Moon, and this time again photographs were taken and sent to Earth. Thanks to the photographs, scientists then compiled the first map of both sides of the lunar surface, and then a new color map of the Moon with lunar seas, mountain ranges, the most important peaks, ring crater mountains, and circuses.

While I was writing these pages, one news followed another. Before I had time to tell you about the new color map, an amazing event happened: in February 1966, the world’s first automatic station, ours, the Soviet one, landed on the Earth’s satellite! She made, as scientists say, a soft landing - this means that she landed on the Moon smoothly, without breaking the equipment.

Having softly landed on the moon, the automatic station immediately began to work hard - it sent more and more pictures of the lunar surface, and these pictures were taken at close range. But this is extremely important! The images were large and accurate: scientists simply pounced on these amazing documents and looked at them carefully; Now they saw what the surface of the Moon was like, what was on it, they affirmed or, on the contrary, changed their points of view about the lunar surface.

Luna 9 made a soft landing on our satellite, the Moon. And soon after that, in March 1966, Luna 10 was launched.

She began to fly around the Moon, that is, she became its artificial satellite, and the Luna-10 instruments sent messages to Earth that scientific researchers needed to better know our celestial neighbor.

“Luna-10” made its endless flight around the Moon, so close and familiar, and in the first days the whole world could hear the melody of the Communist anthem, “The Internationale,” coming from it.

After “Luna-10” there were also “Luna-11”, and “Luna-12”, and “Luna-14”, and “Luna-16”... Our messengers are constantly soaring into outer space, they are paving the first paths to our heavenly neighbor. And the most difficult and most important thing is always what is done for the first time!

However, the news in recent years is amazing! American astronauts, on the Apollo 11 spacecraft, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins in July 1969 were the first to fly to the Moon, two of them, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, set foot on its surface, the third, Michael Collins, was waiting them, making circles around the Moon.

The names of these cosmonauts will go down in history just like the name of our glorious Gagarin, who was the first to go into space and see our planet Earth from the outside.

And a very special place in the study of our celestial neighbor is occupied by the amazing Lunokhod-1 apparatus, delivered to the Moon in November 1970. He worked hard there, doing man's work to explore the lunar surface. This amazing device only worked on a lunar day, when it could charge its batteries from solar energy. And on a moonlit night he rested, as they affectionately said about him: he slept.

Really, all this looks like a fairy tale.

And it may well happen that during the time this book is being printed, new amazing events will occur and we will have to expand this chapter, although at first we were going to talk about only one thing: why we don’t see the far side of the Moon.

WHY DO WE ONLY SEE ONE SIDE OF THE MOON?

The Moon floats high in the sky, bright, beautiful, with dark spots on its shiny disk. On a full moon, it resembles someone’s round, good-natured, slightly mocking face. We always see her like this. And before us, for thousands of years, people looked at the exact same Moon and the dark spots were distributed on it in the same way, which make it look like a human face. For thousands of years, people have been observing changes in her bright face - from the thin sickle of a newborn month to the full radiance of her disk. Meanwhile, the Moon is a ball, the same as other planets, including our Earth, on which you and I live. But the Moon never shows us its other side, we do not see it. Why?
The Moon rotates around its axis and at the same time makes its way around the Earth, because it is a satellite of the Earth.

In twenty-nine and a half days it completes its revolution around the Earth, and... it takes the same amount of time to turn around its axis - so slowly does it complete this revolution. And that's the whole point. That's why we always see only one side of her.
But how does this happen? So that you can imagine this more clearly, let's do a little experiment. Take some small table (if there is no table, a chair or something else that is more convenient for you, that will be at hand). This chair will be the imaginary Earth, and you yourself will be the Moon, which revolves around the Earth. Start moving around the table and at the same time, very slowly around your axis. You will see that you will be facing the table all the time. At the beginning of your movement, for example, you saw a window in front of you, but then, as you make your circle around the table (that is, the Earth), this window will be behind you and only at the end of the path will you see it again. This will only confirm that you have turned not only around the table, but also around yourself.
That's how the Moon is. It rotates around the Earth and at the same time around its own axis.
But I must tell you that we still saw the far side of the Moon! How did this happen? Do you remember? .. However, no, you don’t remember this; in those years you were still too young! And this happened in 1959, when Soviet scientists launched a rocket towards the Moon, which flew around our satellite, took pictures from its other side and transmitted these pictures to us, on Earth. And people all over the world saw the far side of the Moon for the first time!
And that is not all. A few years later, Soviet scientists again sent a rocket towards the Moon, and this time again photographs were taken and sent back to Earth. Thanks to these images, scientists have compiled the first map of both sides of the lunar surface. We now have a new color map of the Moon with lunar seas, mountain ranges, important peaks, ring crater mountains, circuses.
In February 1966, the world's first rocket, ours, Soviet, landed on the Earth's satellite. It made, as scientists say, a soft landing, which means that it landed on the Moon smoothly, without breaking the equipment, approximately the way a rocket should land on the Moon, on board of which the first explorers will arrive on the Moon. Our rocket, having softly landed on the moon, immediately began to work hard - it sent more and more pictures of the lunar surface, and these pictures were taken at close range. But this is extremely important! The images were large and accurate; scientists simply pounced on these amazing documents and looked at them carefully; Now they saw what the surface of the Moon was like, what was on it, they affirmed, or, on the contrary, changed their points of view about the lunar surface. Luna 9 made a soft landing on our satellite, the Moon. And soon after this remarkable flight, in March 1966, the rocket “Luna-10” was launched again, it began to fly around the Moon, that is, it became its artificial satellite, and the instruments of “Luna-10” sent messages to Earth that Research scientists need them to better know our celestial neighbor.
“Luna-10” made its endless flight around the Moon, so close and familiar, and in the first days the whole world could hear the melody of the Communist anthem “International” coming from it.
Here comes the news again! After Luna-10 there was also Luna-11, Luna-12, and Luna-13, which again made a soft landing on our satellite.
All the time soaring into unknown outer space soviet missiles, they are laying the first paths to distant celestial bodies. And in October 1967, the whole world was shocked by the news that the Soviet interplanetary station “Venera-4” smoothly sank to the surface of Venus - one of our planets solar system. Who knows what news tomorrow will bring us.
In any case, while the book was published, we managed to add a lot to this chapter, which at first tried to tell only one thing: why we don’t see the far side of the Moon.