Ok here goes....why is it that every time we look at the moon it has the same "man on the moon face">>>

Question

Is not the moon a satellite of earth and earth the suns satellite? The how come we are always presented with the same view...?

Answer 1

Hello,
The moon is in synchronous rotation, which means it rotates on its axis at the same speed it revolves around the earth. That is, it takes one month to make a complete revolution around the earth and one month to make a complete rotation about its axis. This can be demonstrated by walking around in a circle in such away that you always face the center. Then you're always revolving and rotating (like the moon), but the center (the earth) only sees one side of you.

Answer 2

The moon is a satellite. The earth is a planet.

The moon revolves around the earth. The earth revolves around the sun.

Note that the moon and the earth both does both revolution and rotation. Because the moon rotates at the same time it revolves around the sun, and because the time it takes to rotate is the same as the time it take to revolve, the moon always faces the earth with the same side. =)

Answer 3

The moon revolves around the earth as the earth rotates around its axis. The gravitational forces the moon kind of act like a string tying the moon to the earth. Picture your at the gym. You have of a 10 pound weight, the earth, with a 2 pound weight, the moon, connected buy a bar, gravity. Now rotate the whole barbell using the 10 pound weight as the axis. Not the best model because the distance between the earth and moon changes somewhat, and its not to scale. But the idea is you always see the same side of the moon, because it does not rotate itself.

Answer 4

It most likely wasn't always the case, but over the course of billions of years, the moon was "despun" by the gravitational influence of earth. So the moon seems like it spins at exactly the right rate to always points the same face at us. Technically, since the moon isn't really rotating around the earth (its moving in a straight line which is bent by earths gravity), you can see that it makes sense mathematically.

Answer 5

Imagine you sitting in the middle of a round race track, and on the track, someone racing a horse. The horse goes round the track and you look at it from the middle, and always see the same side.

The moon-earth group acts the same way, the moon revolves around the earth, but at the same time it revolves around itself just enough to always show the same side to the earth.

I hope i helped with my analogy :), i'm not the best explainer in town.

Answer 6

It has a rotation speed and a revolution speed, both are once in 29 days. So we always see the same face of the moon

Answer 7

be cause the moon dont turn around it self,moon just turn around the earth at the same face.there is no different,the other side just have more holes.