If something about this simulation
strikes you as unexperienced, don't worry, you're not picturing things; however
the Moon does rotate about its axis as it orbits Earth, you've never in your
life seen it rotation quite like this. The Moon is tidally bound to Earth, repeatedly
hiding one of its faces from those of us kicking it planetside. Due to a
phenomenon known as libration, it's truly possible to spot as much as 59% of
the Moon's surface. But the left over 41%, the so-called "far side,"
was for many years a whole mystery.
But this video, generated from
images senr by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, offers us a completely
different view of the Moon, one that takes its enigmatic far-side into clear
view:
