When looking at the sky, we come across several celestial bodies – stars, planets, artificial or natural satellites, or any objects that are found in outer space.
The image that the sky gives us becomes more enchanting when we are on a farm, a place where there is lesser amount of pollution, a fact that allows us to more clearly appreciate the stars, the Moon and all the brightness “coming from the heights” captured by the our eyes.
Astronomy (a word of Greek origin, which etymologically means star law) is one of the oldest sciences, if not the most; she makes various observations both on and off the land, looking for answers to various phenomena.
The Moon with its four phases – new, crescent, full and waning – is a natural satellite that orbits the Earth and aggregates a very interesting curiosity: one side of it is hidden from us, that is, we only see one side of the Moon here from Earth; astronomy can help us understand this fact.
Like the Earth and other planets, the Moon has two basic movements: translation (movement performed around the Earth) and rotation (movement in which the moon rotates around its own axis), the coincidence between the period of these two movements is the factor responsible for making for us, mere terrestrial observers, one side of the moon dark, hidden, or rather, unobservable in this referential.
The band Pink Floyd, inspired by this phenomenon, composed, in 1973, an album named Dark Side of the Moon, which means in Portuguese Lado Escuro da Lua, which was consecrated as a masterpiece of band.
The Moon enchants, inspires and makes us, human beings, always in search of knowledge about it.
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Hidden face of the Moon seen by an off-Earth reference point.
By Frederico Borges de Almeida
Graduated in Physics
Brazil School Team
mechanics - Physics - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
ALMEIDA, Frederico Borges de. "Dark side of the Moon "; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/fisica/o-lado-escuro-lua.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
