If the moon is phase locked to the Earth, then shouldn't the far side of the moon be more pummeled by meteors than the near side facing Earth? Wouldn't the Earth block most direct hits?
2007-09-21 06:04:03 · 10 answers · asked by seweccentric 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Yes, I meant far side, thanks :) ... I must've been thinking of Pink Floyd
2007-09-21 06:21:36 · update #1
I DID look at pictures from the far side and they just didn't look any more beat up to me. Please don't assume I'm an idiot and asked without looking. Derh.
2007-09-21 06:23:07 · update #2
I think you mean the _far_ side of the Moon, as there is no such thing as the _dark_ side of the Moon. In fact, there _are_ more craters on the far side of the Moon, but probably not for that reason. The far side lacks the large basins called "maria" which were the result of a small number of extra large asteroid impacts, causing lava to flood many hundreds of craters. The Earth is too small relative to the Moon's orbit to block a significant number of meteors.
2007-09-21 06:17:57 · answer #1 · answered by GeoffG 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You need to look at the pictures of earth from the moon landings. The earth is not exactly a huge, overwhelming presence in the sky. Plenty of room for meteors to get through.
Crater for crater, the far side of the moon is more pocked, but that's probably because the near side experienced massive volcanic upheaval that cleaned away a lot of the craters. This probably happened before the moon became tide-locked, and the maria face us because they have more mass at the surface than the other side, thus get tidally attracted more strongly. Perhaps if the moon were uniform on the surface, it wouldn't be tide-locked.
2007-09-21 06:32:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I say the far side DOES have more craters than the near side. At least it has fewer of the "seas" which are the dark planes that have fewer craters than the highlands. The highlands, both near and far side, are totally saturated with craters, where any new impact that created a new crater would obliterate one or more of the older craters that were already there. The highlands are 100% taken up by craters, on both the far and near side, and there is a greater percentage of highlands on the far sode, so I say it DOES have more craters.
By the way, Earth would not block hardly any hits on the near side. Earth is too small and far away from the Moon, It would be like sheltering from rain under an umberella with a 120 foot tall handle. A 4 foot wide umberella 120 feet above your head will not keep you dry. Earth is 8,000 miles in diameter and 240,000 miles from the Moon, so it is 30 times its diameter away from the Moon, which is like a 4 foot umberella 120 feet above your head.
2007-09-21 06:38:20 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The FAR SIDE of the Moon is just full of craters from hits by all manner of flying objects. Many of the strikes on the NEAR SIDE of the Moon have been filled in as a result of volcanic activity (lava flows) and must have occurred when the core of the Moon was a great deal hotter than it is now.
Regards,
Zah
2007-09-21 08:13:40 · answer #4 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
From the Earth, the Moon has an apparent size of 1/2 degree. From the Moon, our Earth is 2 degrees in size, four times as big. However, that still leaves another 358 degrees of sky open. So the Earth doesn't make a very good shield for the Moon; there's too much space between them.
2007-09-21 06:46:10 · answer #5 · answered by stork5100 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Derh? There are more craters on the dark side of the moon. You can prove this for yourself by looking at http://www.lunarrepublic.com/atlas/sections/farside.shtml, which shows the cratered Dark Side. One of the first humans to see it, William Anders, described it during the Apollo 8 mission:
"The backside looks like a sand pile my kids have played in for some time. It's all beat up, no definition, just a lot of bumps and holes."
2007-09-21 06:19:29 · answer #6 · answered by astazangasta 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you look at the pictures of the near and far side, you'll note there's a lot more "maria" on the Earth's side. These are regions of hardened lava, and there's a lot of area on the side we see that makes up the surface of the moon.
The whiter portions are areas disrupted by meteor strikes. The far side has far more of these areas, and far less "maria", meaning - it does get pummeled more often on that side.
2007-09-21 08:14:16 · answer #7 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its because of the destruction that God made happen as a judgment against sin at the Flood,4350 years ago, peices of the destruction hit the moon, mars, and earth which is what broke up the fountains of the deep and tilted the earths axis, the meteors are from that event.God has all the answers.
2014-09-08 23:59:34 · answer #8 · answered by kenneth 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the moon rotates.
BUT if it did not there is still a huge gap between the earth and the moon so there will still craters.
2007-09-21 06:12:59 · answer #9 · answered by Tino 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you're right, and there are more craters on the dark side of the moon.
2007-09-21 06:09:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋