The dark side of the Moon (Photo : NASA)
We no longer have to wonder what the dark side of the Moon looks like.
NASA has released its most detailed animated video showing what's on the Moon's dark or far side never visible from the Earth. And the video is fantastic.
Seen from the perspective of someone looking at the dark side, the video shows this side isn't always dark but goes through periods of light and dark just like the side facing the Earth.
NASA said that just like the near side, the far side goes through a complete cycle of phases. The terrain of the far side is quite different, however.
It lacks the large dark spots, called maria or "lunar seas", that create the familiar Man in the Moon on the near side.
Craters of all sizes crowd together over the entire far side. The far side is also home to one of the largest and oldest impact features in the solar system, the South Pole-Aitken basin. This feature is visible on the video as a slightly darker bruise covering the bottom third of the disk.
We always and only see one side of the Moon because it's tidally locked to the Earth,explained Tech Times.
The video consists of images taken by the LRO since 2009. The only photos mankind has of the Moon's dark side are a few blurred images taken by a Soviet probe, Luna 3, way back in 1959.
LRO used its precise laser altimeter and its camera to create the most detailed images ever of the dark side. NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio stitched together the images from the LRO to create the video.
NASA also sees the LRO as paving the way for future manned and robotic missions to the Moon. Launched in 2009, LRO was NASA's first moon mission in more than 10 years.
