Eli5: why do we can observe 60% of moon’s surface?

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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

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Its due to something called Libration, basically wiggling of the moon which lets us see around the normal edges

The moons rotational axis is tilted by about 7 degrees so this lets us see a bit more of it as it travels up and down during its orbit. The moon’s orbit is not a perfect circle so its rotation sometimes lags or leads its orbital position when its close/far away.

The result is [a wobbly moon that you can see over half of while mainly looking at just one side](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Lunar_libration_with_phase_Oct_2007_450px.gif)

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