Far Side of Moon

                                                   Far Side of Moon


The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that always faces away from Earth. The far side's terrain is rugged with a multitude of impact craters and relatively few flat lunar maria. It has one of the largest craters in the Solar System, the South Pole–Aitken basin. Both sides of the Moon experience two weeks of sunlight followed by two weeks of the night; the far side is sometimes called the "dark side of the Moon," meaning unseen rather than lacking light.
About 18% of the far side is occasionally visible from Earth due to libration. The remaining 82% remained unobserved until 1959 when it was photographed by the Luna 3 space probe.
 The Apollo 8 astronauts were the first humans to see the far side with the naked eye when they orbited the Moon in 1968.

Research:-

Until the late 1950s, little was known about the far side of the Moon. Liberation's of the Moon periodically allowed limited glimpses of features near the lunar limb on the far side. These features, however, were seen from a low angle, hindering useful observation. (It proved difficult to distinguish a crater from a mountain range.) The remaining 82% of the surface on the far side remained unknown, and its properties were subject to much speculation.


Until the late 1950s, little was known about the far side of the Moon. Liberation's of the Moon periodically allowed limited glimpses of features near the lunar limb on the far side. These features, however, were seen from a low angle, hindering useful observation. (It proved difficult to distinguish a crater from a mountain range.) The remaining 82% of the surface on the far side remained unknown, and its properties were subject to much speculation.


On October 7, 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photographs of the lunar far side, eighteen of them resolvable, covering one-third of the surface invisible from the Earth. The images were analyzed, and the first atlas of the far side of the Moon was published by the USSR Academy of Sciences on November 6, 1960On October 7, 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photographs of the lunar far side, eighteen of them resolvable, covering one-third of the surface invisible from the Earth. The images were analyzed, and the first atlas of the far side of the Moon was published by the USSR Academy of Sciences on November 6, 1960

On April 26, 1962, NASA's Ranger 4 space probe became the first spacecraft to impact the far side of the Moon, although it failed to return any scientific data before impact.

UFO sightings:-

Some conspiracy theorists, notably Milton William Cooper, have alleged that some Apollo astronauts had seen UFOs on the far side of the Moon but were told to keep quiet about them.[33][34] Some have allegedly reported seeing an alien base (codenamed "Luna") and even encountered aliens who told them to stay off the Moon. Some photographs circulated on the Internet purport to show a large "castle" on the Moon. The Apollo 20 hoax claims that a manned mission landed on the far side. NASA states that these claims are hoaxes.

Movie scene:-

In Transformers: Dark of The Moon, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between the benevolent Autobots and the malevolent Decepticons, crash lands on the dark side of the Moon.