Moon showing only one side?

I'm not sure and sorry for bothering clever folk but is this a common situation within our solarsystem?

Does our moon showing one side seem strange or normal?

it is very normal. It is called tidally locked.

reply to post by robwerden


Normal ? what other moons or heavanly bodies do this excactly ?

For people who are too lazy to look that up, what does it mean? Thanks.

Originally posted by robwerden
it is very normal. It is called tidally locked.

It might have a name but:

Are there more in our solarsystem

Is it common?




]

reply to post by MarshMallow_Snake


? I dont know who you are asking, but I know that Venus faces earth with the same side like the moon, and Iapetus does that...

it means you will only ever see one face of the moon.

as the moon circles the earth it appears too not spin on its own axes because you only ever see the one side. but from a place other than earth you will see the whole rotation.



[edit on 17/7/09 by spearhead]

en.wikipedia.org...

Includes a list of planets and moons.

reply to post by weedev


Common, well , if earth faced the sun with the same side all the time and Mars faced the sun all the time etc. it would be normal, one could say..

there. that should explain it....

the earths rotation counters the moons rotation giving the illusion of a stagnate moon.

[edit on 17/7/09 by spearhead]

reply to post by ChemBreather


Yes, sure but planets and the like seem to spin? That is all i'm asking..? Geez

reply to post by spearhead


Nice picture !

lets move on to the Moons size, distance and mass..

its small in comparision but big at the same time. it rotates at the same speed as it revolves around us.

Surface area 3.793 × 107 km² (0.074 Earths)
Volume 2.195 8 × 1010 km³ (0.020 Earths)
Mass 7.347 7 × 1022 kg (0.012 3 Earths[1])

Moon

[edit on 17/7/09 by spearhead]

reply to post by weedev


You can play with this your self if you have a hammer.
Try balancing a hammer on your finger, then try with a pensil, youd be amazed by what you'd discover !!

Then imagine they are spinning too, lots of fun !!

something aint right about the moon..As I sayd in my last reply, size,distance and mass, one of them are not right....

Originally posted by spearhead

there. that should explain it....

the earths rotation counters the moons rotation giving the illusion of a stagnate moon.

[edit on 17/7/09 by spearhead]

I know how it works! but why and if its it's common?

Wit?

?

yes its common in the solar system.

The time for the Moon to go around the Earth is exactly equal to the time it takes the Moon to rotate on its axis. This “locking” of periods between revolution (going around the parent body) and rotation is common throughout the Solar System.

moon's rotation

reply to post by ChemBreather


en.wikipedia.org...

This is from runespider who already tried to help, if you'd just look at links.

AND there is nothing wrong with the Moon's distance and mass!!!

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system (the barycentre) is located about 1,700 km—a quarter the Earth's radius—beneath the surface of the Earth. The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth every 27.3 days (the orbital period), and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth–Moon–Sun system are responsible for the phases of the moon, which repeat every 29.5 days (the synodic period).

The Moon's diameter is 3,474 km,[4] a little more than a quarter of that of the Earth. Thus, the Moon's surface area is less than a tenth that of the Earth (about a quarter the Earth's land area, approximately as large as Russia, Canada, and the United States combined), and its volume is about 2 percent that of Earth. The pull of gravity at its surface is about 17 percent of that at the Earth's surface....

en.wikipedia.org...

I know how it works! but why and if its it's common?

Wtf?

?

reply to post by weedwhacker


Hmmmm, sounds good weedwacker !!


Nothing is up with the Moon ?

The best I can explain it is this.
Make a fist and extend your arm.
Now bring the fist in and conk yourself.JK
Your fist is the moon and your head is the earth. OK?
Where your wrist is, is where we always see the Moon.
Now, slowly rotate your arm to the right and at the same time rotate your wrist to the left, (the Moons rotation) and also slighlty bend your wristback and forth ( the moons' and the Earths wobble).
And at the same time follow your fist with your head.
We don't see only one side of the Moon, we see slightly more than half.
There is no "dark side", only a side that doesn't rotatate towards us as the Moons rotation spins almost perpendicular to the Earth.
Anyway, that's how I finally "got it".