Why Do We See The Same Side Of The Moon
Olivia Luz
When it s farthest from our planet this difference between orbital and rotational speed gives observers a glimpse of the moon s dark side the side that s usually hidden.
There are two main reasons for this. The moon rotates on its own axis and it takes approximately 28 days to make one full rotation. First the moon s orbit around earth is elliptical not circular so its rotation is sometimes ahead and sometimes behind its orbital motion. However its rotational speed is always the same.
It s just that the amount of time it takes the moon to complete a revolution on its axis is the same it takes to circle our planet about 27 days. Tidal locking is the reason why do we see only one side of the moon the simple answer is that we only see one side of the moon because the moon rotates around the earth at the exact same angular speed in fact it s not exactly true we ll talk about it later too as it rotates around its own axis so that the same side of the moon is constantly facing the surface of the earth. And second the moon s rotation axis is not at right angles to its orbit around the earth so we can sometimes see over or under its poles. The reason why the moon always shows the same side to us is that the time taken to complete a rotation around its axis is the same as the time needed to complete an orbit around the earth.
Our lunar companion rotates while it orbits earth. For starters the moon is not stuck in place with one side facing us. Nope not by chance it s pure physics. Because of that its orbital speed increases or decreases depending on how close the moon is to our planet.
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So from earth the moon always shows the same side. As you can see this means that the time to orbit the earth and the time to spin on it s axis are the same.
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