Question

Why can't we see the lit side of the moon?

Answer 1

It is in "tidal lock" with the earth. Over the eons, its rotational speed has been slowed down to synch up with its orbit of earth. Mercury is in tidal lock with the sun as well. One side of Mercury is always extremely hot, and the other side is extremely cold, despite it being the closest planet to the sun.

Answer 2

The Moon is in "synchronous rotation", meaning that it keeps the same face turned toward Earth at all times.

Answer 3

Because of the earth-moon-sun plane and the way the moon orbits around our earth, it is precise enough to not allow us to see the other side of the moon when it is lit up. We see it only when the light is not reaching it. I hope that makes sense.

Answer 4

It's an analogy to the man and the woman . The earth is the man and the moon is the woman. The woman must never turn her back to her man.

Answer 5

to Dog: The center of the rotation of the moon around the earth is actually a couple hundred miles below the surface of the earth. So like someone throwing the hammer in the olympics, the person isn't actuahlly the center, the center is nearer to the handle. The center of rotation is NOT the center of the earth.

Answer 6

We never see the "dark side of the moon". It's on the other side.. . This is because the period of rotation around its axis is equal to the period of revolution around the Earth.. . EDIT: stefantheicewarrior, that's silly. It's not coincidental. There is an amazing amount of evidence that the Big Bang happened. The reason that the rotation and revolution speeds are synchronized has to do with the tidal forces between the Earth and the moon.

Answer 7

Wouldn't a tidal lock imply that the earth and moon are sister planets, that dance a virginial real path around the sun? The center of gravity of the co-orbit, would be much closer to the earth than the moon.

Answer 8

First of all, the side we see is not always the dark side.. . But if you're talking about the expression the "dark side", it's the side that you can't see.. . But why do we only see one side of the moon?. . Well, the moon the rotate, but at the same time, it is revolving around the Earth, and apparently the time it takes for the moon to orbit once is exactly the same as the time it takes for the moon to rotate around its axis once.

Answer 9

Because the moon has bad acne on the other side, and doesn't want us to see it.. . Really, it's because its rotation on its axis and its revolution around the earth are timed so that we only see one side of the moon. It's kind of a random luck thing.

Answer 10

My guess is that the moon is not balanced and the heavier side settled towards earth.