The face of the moon?

Question

A couple of days ago, me and a few friends were sitting outside, and we started lookin at the moon...We started talking about the face on the moon, and i said i could sort of see it, and my friends really didnt see anything.. So i made the comment that The moon doesnt rotate, because i heard this somewhere, but i cant find any info on this... My friends didnt believe me and they said that the moon is always spinning and that it shows a diffrent side every night... Now im not sure if im wrong or not, i cant remember where i heard that it doesnt rotate from, but if anyone can clarify this for me, i would appreciate it.

Well what i think i mean is, That no one from earth has seen the dark side of the moon, maybe thats what im tryin to say... im not sure

Answer 1

It is true that only one side of the moon always faces the earth-- that is, it rotates, but it does so in perfect synchronization with its orbit around the earth. So in our perspective on earth, we only see one side of it.

But the side that is opposite earth should not be called the "dark side" because it is frequently illuminated, sometimes completely, by the sun.

Answer 2

im not 100%
but
the moon doesnt spin like the earth. the moon moves with the earth. the earth and the moon have a gravitational pull on eachother. it is the moons gravity that makes the oceans waves. the earth rotates so we have day and night. the day side of the planet facing the sun always has a night side facing the moon. the earths axis rotation day/night cycle is faster than the moons earth-circling orbit. because the speeds are different we have different phases of the moon (quarter, half, full) because at different points the moon's reflection of the sunlight from the other side of the earth is shadowed by the earth itself. when the earth is rotating different parts of the earth are shown different parts of the moon in the night sky depending on what part of the world you're looking up at the moon from (sometimes the side is lit up for asia at night but when night comes to north america it may be that more of the face is showing). when there is a solar eclipse we are seeing the moment when the earth's day time finally catches the moon on its path in front of the sun. the moon's orbit is so much slower than the earth's rotation that this only happens every once in a very long while. the same side of the moon faces the earth all the time but the position of the sun in realtionship to the earth and moon changes the way it looks.

Answer 3

Well, the moon does rotate, and the light side always faces the earth, and the dark side always faces away from the earth. The moon also revolves around the sun about every 28 days. Since the same part of the moon is always facing earth as it revolves around the earth, after 1 revolution, one rotation of the moon has also occurred.

Try walking around a chair and keep the front side of your body facing the chair as you walk around it. Notice that after you've walked around the chair one full time, you have also turned around once.

Answer 4

The moon rotates 1 time every 30 days and thats how long it takes to complete it's cycle. You only see 1 side of the moon, You cannot see the dark side of the moon. Strange. Thats just the way God planned it.

Answer 5

The moon rotate VERY slowly on its axis. ONE round every month. So you get to see the SAME face everytime. It has been doing that for thousands of years.

There is no dark side. Depending on where the moon is facing, all its sides are illuminated.

Answer 6

The moon does rotate

Answer 7

The Moon is spinning, but is orbiting Earth at the same time (and at virtually the same rate) so from a _visual_ point of view, you could be considered to be right, but your friends could also be considered partly right too, because the visible part of the moon does vary slightly.
See link below.

Answer 8

It rotates, but we see the same side every night. That's why there's a dark side of the moon!

Answer 9

The Moon rotates at just the right speed so that it always keeps one face pointed toward the Earth.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=142

Good question, gave me an opportunity to find out about the moon myself. Thanks!

Answer 10

you are wrong

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit