Dark Side of the Moon

This dissolution takes place in the Region of the Moon, as Plutarch writes Even the ancient Egyptians considered the infernal region to be on the dark side of the moon. Whatever the moon represents in the solar system, is the fantasy or the power of the imagination of a Human Being. 

His works were collected into one volume and published in 1848 under the title Writings on Public Economy. Fabbroni was a versatile man of science and his scientific eclecticism was well recognized not only in Tuscany but abroad. When the Soviets, starting in 1959, succeeded in photographing the dark side of the moon, the International Astronomic Union decided to name one of its craters after him. 

That night we camped on the Peruvian side of the river. After dark, around the fire, the conversation anticipated a total eclipse of the moon said to be due. We wondered after the fate of the Apollo... 

I am walking down the driveway, dressed in a blue and purple skirt and tunic. It is dark. I see privets on either side of the driveway, and all of the sudden I can see some of their yellow-green leaves. They are the only thing that is visible. I see glimpses of a three-quarter moon and this repeats two or three times. It felt good and mysterious in a religious way. 

Space is not as empty as it once seemed. True, there are no men on the moon or canals on Mars, but there are oceans on Titan (methane) and three other moons (under ice). Water can be detected many places from its intense infrared color. This color is especially rich in comets and can be found in nebulae and dark lunar craters, even on the dark side of Mercury. Much of this water predated even the sun. 

Fig. 4.24 Moon near side (left) and far side (right). Note the absence of the dark appearing big plains (maria) on the far side. Image credit NASA, Clementine mission...

The Moon is in geosynchronous rotation keeping nearly always the same face towards Earth. In fact because of the so called libration effects, we can see about 59% of its surface from Earth. The side that face towards Earth is called the near side, the other hemisphere is called the far side (sometimes also the dark side however this is not correct since also the far side is illuminated by the sun as is the near side). However, the far side was unknown before it was first photographed by the Soviet probe Luna 3 in 1959. The two sides are different (see Eig. 4.24), the far side is almost completely absent of the big plains that are called maria. 

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