What Is The Dark Side Of The Moon?
QUICK ANSWER
The dark side of the Moon isn't actually dark. It's the far side, the hemisphere we never see from Earth because the Moon is tidally locked. The far side gets the same amount of sunlight as the near side; people just can't see it from our position. The phrase dark side is a popular misconception.
The dark side of the Moon is a famous phrase, but it's misleading. The far side of the Moon isn't dark; it gets just as much sunlight as the side we can see. We just can't see the far side from Earth because the Moon always keeps the same face pointed toward us. The far side has its own unique geography too, very different from the side we know.
Why is it called the dark side?
Mostly because it's hidden from view, not because it's actually dark. According to NASA, the term dark side became popular in the 20th century, possibly reinforced by Pink Floyd's 1973 album. The far side of the Moon spends about half of each lunar month in sunlight, just like the near side. When we see a new moon (the near side completely dark), the far side is fully lit by the Sun. When we see a full moon, the far side is in complete darkness. Both sides get equal sunlight overall.
Why don't we see the far side?
Because the Moon is tidally locked. The Moon rotates on its axis at exactly the same rate as it orbits Earth, so the same hemisphere always faces us. Humans never saw the far side until October 1959, when the Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft took the first photographs and sent them back to Earth. Before that, the far side was completely unknown territory.
What does the far side look like?
Very different from the near side. The far side has far fewer of the dark plains called maria (which give the near side its familiar features like the man in the moon). Instead, it's covered in heavy cratering and rougher terrain. The thicker crust on the far side may have prevented ancient lava flows from reaching the surface. The far side also has a massive crater called the South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest impact craters in our solar system.
Has anyone landed on the far side?
Yes, but only robots. China's Chang'e 4 mission became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the far side of the Moon, on January 3, 2019. The lander and its Yutu-2 rover have been operating there ever since. No human has ever been to the far side, though NASA's Artemis II mission in April 2026 flew the four-person crew around the Moon and over the far side, the first humans to see it in person since Apollo.
The dark side of the Moon isn't actually dark. It's the far side, which we can't see from Earth because the Moon is tidally locked. The far side gets the same amount of sunlight as the near side, just at opposite times. It looks dramatically different from the near side, with more craters and far fewer of the dark maria that give the near side its familiar features. The phrase dark side is a poetic misnomer that's stuck around for cultural reasons.
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