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Just realized the "dark side of the moon" thing is wrong, it's really the far side and it never gets dark
I pointed this out at a BBQ in Tucson last weekend and got into a 20 minute argument with a guy who swore it faces away from the sun permanently. It doesn't, it gets the same sunlight we do, we just never see that half from Earth, so has anyone actually timed how long the far side sits in light per orbit?
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seanbennett1mo ago
The whole "dark side" name is one of those things that just refuses to die, like people still think you can see the Great Wall from space. Here's the funny part though, the far side actually gets slightly MORE sunlight than the near side over a full year, because it never has to deal with Earth blocking the sun during a lunar eclipse. As for timing it, the moon is tidally locked so one full spin on its axis takes about 27.3 days, same as one trip around Earth, which means any given spot on the far side gets roughly 14 days of sun then 14 days of night, just like the near side. So your BBQ guy was wrong twice, it's not always dark AND it's not always lit, it goes through the same day and night cycle we do, we just can't watch it happen. Honestly you could've won that argument in 30 seconds if you'd just asked him why the far side looks fully lit in those photos from the Apollo missions.
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rowanlewis1mo ago
Wait, the far side gets MORE sun? That part just broke my brain a little. I always figured it was basically the same both sides, so hearing it actually comes out ahead over a year because Earth never throws a shadow on it during an eclipse is wild. The eclipse thing alone is a solid point nobody ever brings up. And yeah, the 14 days on 14 days off cycle makes total sense once you remember the spin matches the orbit. The Apollo photo argument is the killer though, that one would've ended it right there. Some guy at a BBQ is not coming back from that.
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