before seen: the far side of the moon.

We always see the same old side of the moon because the moon rotates exactly once on its

axis each time it orbits Earth. If it weren’t spinning at all, we’d get at least one 360

degree view of its surface with each lap. If it were spinning twice as fast, we’d

also see the moon’s entire surface more than once per orbit. But instead, our moon’s

motions – like the spin and orbit of most other moons in our solar system – are, remarkably,

in perfect sync.

This wasn’t always the case: our best guess is that our own moon formed due to a massive

asteroid impact, and its initial spin and dizzying 10-hour orbit were almost certainly

not in sync with each other – though we don’t know which was faster.

At such close range, Earth’s gravity deformed the moon into a slight oval, with one of its

bulges facing Earth. Those bulges quickly swung out of alignment, thanks to the moon's

asynchronous spin and orbit, but Earth’s gravity continually squeezed them back again.

What’s more, this gravitational tugging would have influenced the moon’s rotation

rate: if it was spinning more than once per orbit, earth would pull at a slight angle

against the moon’s direction of rotation, slowing its spin; if the moon was spinning

less than once per orbit, Earth would have pulled the other way, speeding its rotation.

Whatever the case, it took just 1000 years for the Earth’s pull to adjust the moon’s

spin enough that one rotation of the moon corresponded to one trip around the earth,

leaving one side forever locked facing away.

We do end up seeing slightly more than that one side, because the moon’s elliptical

orbit gives us peeks beyond its average eastern and western horizons, and its tilted axis

causes “moon-seasons” revealing more of the lunar north or south poles. But those

glimpses only add up to an extra 9%, leaving 41% of the moon hidden from earth. Satellites,

starting with Luna 3, have allowed us to map the rest, but it’s safe to say that our

relationship with the moon is still pretty one-sided.