The Moon is the closest major celestial body to Earth and has been observed, marveled at and worshiped for thousands of years. The Moon is the only satellite in our solar system that orbits the Earth continually. Without it Earth, and life as we know it would be much different. Below are images for the nearside and far side of the moon. The far side photograph was taken from a satellite because the Moon's rotation is synchronous with that of the Earth meaning only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth. It was only in 1959 that images of the far side of the Moon were taken by the Russian satellite 'Soviet Luna 3' [1]. The two sides of the Moon are significantly different in composition and topography and the cause of these differences has been a major astronomical and geological discussion for decades.
The Moon is the most studied object in our solar system. We have a great understanding on the way the Earth and the Moon interact and the internal composition of the Moon, however its formation, some 4.527Ga [2] is still a subject of heated debate. Mechanisms of formation include: Impact Theory, Coaccretion Theory, Fission Theory, and Capture Theory
The Moon is the most studied object in our solar system. We have a great understanding on the way the Earth and the Moon interact and the internal composition of the Moon, however its formation, some 4.527Ga [2] is still a subject of heated debate. Mechanisms of formation include: Impact Theory, Coaccretion Theory, Fission Theory, and Capture Theory
FIGURE 1. Left: Nearside image of the moon showing vast areas of dark maria, which are actually flood basalts and anorthosite highlands to the South [3], Right: Farside image of the moon [1]
FIGURE 2. False colour image showing the crustal thickness of the Moon. The center of the image is the nearside of the moon and the side of the image are the far side of the Moon. The nearside of the Moon appears to have a much thinner crust on average than the far side, which may correspond to the flood basalts (maria) that are much more abundant on the nearside. Crustal thickness based on seismic and gravity data. Based on a model that assumes crustal density is 2800kg/m^3 and mantle density is 3350kg/m^3. [4]