macmauro
10-04-2009, 11:13 PM
Discussing with some friends, i was surprised to find that educated guys didn't know that the dark side of the moon it is called so not because of the darkness, but because actually from Earth we are looking allways at the same face of the moon , due to the revolving or rotation of both celestial bodys. So far so good, at least by net searching i was able to demonstrate them that that is a fact, or so i tought...
The problem started when looking in the net for virtual working models of the revolving/orbiting mechanics earth/moon and vice versa, all the models that we find show that at least at one point ALL off the moon should be visible from earth(not at the same time of course),we tryed to mark points in the "globe moon", only to find that those points (in the dark side) at some point would face earth!!
Now i was puzzled!! I'm sure that's due to poor virtual modelisation from the sites we visited, but of course they laughed at me!!
Does anybody know a good site for virtual modelisation of the orbits??
Not giving up, trying to search more i've stumbled across this statement in a site affiliated or supported by NASA:
"The dark side of the Moon is the hemisphere that is facing away from the SUN and thus not getting any light. Since the Moon does not have an atmosphere, the dark side of the Moon is very, very, very dark! When we are viewing a new Moon, we are looking at the dark side (which is usually slightly lit by light reflected from the Earth). During a new Moon, the dark side is the same as the near side. When we are viewing a full Moon, the dark side is opposite from us--the dark side is the same as the far side here. In between the new Moon and the full Moon (and back to new again), we are seeing various fractions of the Moon lit by the Sun, and the remaining fractions being the dark side. So, the near side is that side always facing the Earth, the far side is the side always facing away from the Earth. The dark side is the side facing away from the Sun, and the bright side is the side facing towards the Sun":eek::eek::eek:
Now i am triple puzzled:the dark side of the moon is very,very dark, and thus not getting any light?? I tought that the dark side of the moon gets light also, like the lighted side(the face we see) gets to be dark...
Of course my friends just laughed at me :(
The problem started when looking in the net for virtual working models of the revolving/orbiting mechanics earth/moon and vice versa, all the models that we find show that at least at one point ALL off the moon should be visible from earth(not at the same time of course),we tryed to mark points in the "globe moon", only to find that those points (in the dark side) at some point would face earth!!
Now i was puzzled!! I'm sure that's due to poor virtual modelisation from the sites we visited, but of course they laughed at me!!
Does anybody know a good site for virtual modelisation of the orbits??
Not giving up, trying to search more i've stumbled across this statement in a site affiliated or supported by NASA:
"The dark side of the Moon is the hemisphere that is facing away from the SUN and thus not getting any light. Since the Moon does not have an atmosphere, the dark side of the Moon is very, very, very dark! When we are viewing a new Moon, we are looking at the dark side (which is usually slightly lit by light reflected from the Earth). During a new Moon, the dark side is the same as the near side. When we are viewing a full Moon, the dark side is opposite from us--the dark side is the same as the far side here. In between the new Moon and the full Moon (and back to new again), we are seeing various fractions of the Moon lit by the Sun, and the remaining fractions being the dark side. So, the near side is that side always facing the Earth, the far side is the side always facing away from the Earth. The dark side is the side facing away from the Sun, and the bright side is the side facing towards the Sun":eek::eek::eek:
Now i am triple puzzled:the dark side of the moon is very,very dark, and thus not getting any light?? I tought that the dark side of the moon gets light also, like the lighted side(the face we see) gets to be dark...
Of course my friends just laughed at me :(