Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: thedoc on 06/08/2015 22:50:01

Title: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: thedoc on 06/08/2015 22:50:01
Damien Huxley asked the Naked Scientists:
   
The Moon is tidal locked to the earth, as the Moon is slowly moving away from the earth when or will it become not tidal lock to the earth and we will see the other side?
What do you think?
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: PmbPhy on 07/08/2015 00:11:57
Damien Huxley asked the Naked Scientists:
   
The Moon is tidal locked to the earth, as the Moon is slowly moving away from the earth when or will it become not tidal lock to the earth and we will see the other side?
What do you think?
No. We'll never see the other side. The tidal lock keeps it facing towards us.
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: evan_au on 07/08/2015 09:45:12
Quote from: Chris
Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Yes - if you can see the Moon in the sky, you will be able to see the dark side almost half of the time. That is the side facing away from the Sun, not the side facing away from the Earth.

Sometimes, the dark side of the Moon is sometimes faintly illuminated by "Earthshine".
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: Mordeth on 09/08/2015 03:13:39
Dark side of the moon?  Sure, we see it all the time.  It is what faces away from the sun.  If you meant the FAR side of the moon, then yes, we have also seen that.  The Soviets first saw it in the late 1950s.  We have seen it many times since.   We can also partially see the far side occasionally due to an effect called libration. 

Lose the tidal lock?  Sure.  Smack it hard enough with a large enough body and it could.
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: PmbPhy on 09/08/2015 05:58:42
Quote from: evan_au
Yes - if you can see the Moon in the sky, you will be able to see the dark side almost half of the time.
That is incorrect. That's not what the term "dark side of the moon" means. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_side_of_the_Moon
Quote
Far side of the Moon, the portion of the Moon's surface that cannot be directly observed from Earth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_side_of_the_Moon
Quote
The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that always faces away from Earth.
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: PmbPhy on 09/08/2015 06:00:17
Quote from: Mordeth
Lose the tidal lock?  Sure.  Smack it hard enough with a large enough body and it could.
We can assume that's not what the OP had in mind since that's too obvious to ask about. Giving answers like that make it appear as if we're being condescending and we don't wish to give that impression.
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: evan_au on 09/08/2015 11:38:40
Quote from: Wikipedia
the far side is also referred to as the dark side of the Moon, originally in the sense of "unknown" rather than lack of light

Ah. so it's like "Dark" in Physics (Dark Matter, Dark Energy, etc). It just means "we don't know what it is"!
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: Mordeth on 09/08/2015 13:29:23
Quote from: Mordeth
Lose the tidal lock?  Sure.  Smack it hard enough with a large enough body and it could.
We can assume that's not what the OP had in mind since that's too obvious to ask about. Giving answers like that make it appear as if we're being condescending and we don't wish to give that impression.

Was not my intent. It was a statement of fact.
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: timey on 10/08/2015 22:57:12
Quote from: Wikipedia
the far side is also referred to as the dark side of the Moon, originally in the sense of "unknown" rather than lack of light

Ah. so it's like "Dark" in Physics (Dark Matter, Dark Energy, etc). It just means "we don't know what it is"!

Lol evan_au... Nice one!  But it's not quite right...

Dark energy and dark matter are in fact mathematical necessities required in order to 'save' the mathematica of current theory/theories in relation to observation.
Where-as the dark side of the moon is in fact the dark side of the moon, a moon that does not rotate by itself but in tandem with earths rotation.

Perhaps the original question 'might' have been posed as:
"What is classed 'as' the dark side of the moon?"

Add relativity to the mix and clearly any position on the moon may be rendered dark dependent on the reference frame of the observer.

(Edit: However, IF the OP was asking if we would ever see the other side of the moon from earths reference frame, then I'd say no, if that were to become possible, we'd all be far too busy hanging onto the seat of our pants because we'd be in for a very bumpy ride... :) )
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: PmbPhy on 11/08/2015 01:35:38
Quote from: evan_au

Ah. so it's like "Dark" in Physics (Dark Matter, Dark Energy, etc). It just means "we don't know what it is"!
Nope. The qualifier "dark" in those two instances means that we can't see them.
Title: Re: Will we ever see the dark side of the moon?
Post by: evan_au on 14/08/2015 11:45:39
But look here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-camera-snaps-stunning-view-of-earth-and-moon-video/?WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20150812

Quote from: Archimedes
Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.
Would standing at L1 (Lagrange Point #1) help?
From here, the Dark Side of the Moon is always well-lit!