Once I heard that from earth we can observe about 60% of moon’s surface. Though the face that is turned to use os always the same. Is it true? And if so why?
In: Earth Science
The moon in tidally locked, meaning it’s own rotation matches that of earths. So as it rotates around the earth the same face always points in towards the earth. But it’s not perfect, so it appears to wobble a bit, rotating a few degrees left and right at different points in it’s orbit. This means that at times you will see a tiny bit more of one side and a tiny bit less of the other. This effect is not immediately evident to a casual observer but with even a low powered telescope if you pay very close attention to landmarks on the moon’s surface, especially towards the edges, you can observe this for yourself.
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