English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

I already know that we see only one face of the moon during it's circular movement around the earth, but it would have a rotational movement around itself only when the axis of rotation passes through it .as if I rotate a small ball a round my finger, only one side of the ball is facing my finger while the ball is making circular movement around the finger without any rotational movement around it's own axis.
and if we supposed that the earth has stopped it's revolution around itself, then only one face of it will always face the sun independent of its continuous rotation around the sun.
now,if we supposed the sun as the fixed reference point ,and if the moon is making a one revolution around its own axis within one month, and further if someone on the earth is looking to a point on the moon on the 1st day of the month, then ,after two weeks this point will be on the other side of the moon because it would make a half revolution around itself, while we see only one face!

2007-08-30 11:01:16 · 2 answers · asked by PowerX 2 in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

2 answers

Suppose we represent the earth by E and the moon by M. Let X be a big giant X on the side of the moon that we can see.

E XM
In this case the moon is to the right of the earth and we can see the X on the left side of the moon.

Now move the moon to the left side of the earth without rotating it.
XM E

You can't see the X from earth because it is on the other side of the moon. So rotate the moon 180 degrees.
MX E

Since we always see the same side of the moon , the moon must rotate 180 degress for every half an orbit.

2007-08-30 12:47:23 · answer #1 · answered by Demiurge42 7 · 0 0

You make assumptions that are impossible.

2007-09-03 05:12:29 · answer #2 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers