1st Video of Moon's Far Side

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Posted by timothy on Thursday February 2, 2012 @04:20AM from the obviously-faked dept.

chill writes "A gravity-mapping spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed home its first video of the lunar far side — a view people on Earth never see. Because the moon is tidally locked with Earth, it only presents one face to the planet's surface (the near side). The side of the moon that faces away from Earth is the far side. Only robotic spacecraft and Apollo astronauts who orbited the moon in the 1960s and 1970s have seen the far side of the moon directly."

31 of 118 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Dark Side by Dave+Whiteside · 2012-02-02 04:24 · Score: 2, Funny

What gives ? it's not dark - or is that because of some jedi mind trick ... [seriously cool though]

--
who where what when now?
1. Re:Dark Side by FreeBSDbigot · 2012-02-02 04:31 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Just in case you're not joking -- there is no dark side of the moon. At least, no permanent one -- of course, one side is dark at any moment, but it's constantly changing. The moon only presents one side to us earthlings, but all sides to the sun.
  
  --
  Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips.
2. Re:Dark Side by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-02 04:40 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  There is no far side of the moon, really... as a matter of fact, it's ALL far.
3. Re:Dark Side by MBGMorden · 2012-02-02 05:05 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Um, not it actually looks quite different. The lunar maria (the dark spots) are much less common. Reason being that those were formed by lava flows on the surface, and you can imagine that if there's molten rock inside, it would be pulled (as expected) towards a big nearby gravity well - Earth in this case.
  
  --
  "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
4. Re:Dark Side by radtea · 2012-02-02 05:58 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Reason being that those were formed by lava flows on the surface, and you can imagine that if there's molten rock inside, it would be pulled (as expected) towards a big nearby gravity well - Earth in this case.
  The difference in surface character on the two faces of the Moon are still a matter of considerable debate, and this particular just-so story--like so much that "just makes sense"--is completely false. References can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare
  There was recent work published suggesting the difference in hemispheres could be due to a late, large, low-velocity impact event that happened shortly after the lunar formation impact on Earth.
  The biggest single lesson from the past 300 years of scientific discovery is that if something "just makes sense" to brains whose evolution has been driven primarily by the social processes of mate competition and mate selection then it is probably wrong. An educated person when presented with an explanation that has intuitive appeal will treat it with well-deserved suspicion until they have seen it publicly tested by systematic observation or controlled experiment (that is, scientifically validated) and not glibly repeat it as if it were knowledge rather than speculation.
  
  --
  Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
5. Re:Dark Side by instagib · 2012-02-02 06:01 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I just heard the refraction of light as it WHOOSHES through a prism...
Clearly a fake by TheGreatOrangePeel · 2012-02-02 04:25 · Score: 4, Funny

The video is clearly a fake. It didn't say, "mystery science theater 3000" ANYWHERE on the surface and I think we all know how largely it's written.
Dark Side of the Moon by bigredradio · 2012-02-02 04:28 · Score: 4, Funny

There's no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark.

--
Flexible bare-metal recovery for Linux/UNIX
1. Re:Dark Side of the Moon by north.coaster · 2012-02-02 04:44 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Looks like you never listened to Pink Floyd.
2. Re:Dark Side of the Moon by Sockatume · 2012-02-02 04:55 · Score: 2
  
  It receives more light, but it's actually a relatively dark grey colour so it's not very bright to look at. It seems bright at night, of course, but that's just because it's sunlit and everything around you isn't.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
3. Re:Dark Side of the Moon by Hatta · 2012-02-02 05:13 · Score: 2
  
  What wavelength is dark grey light?
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
4. Re:Dark Side of the Moon by mspohr · 2012-02-02 05:31 · Score: 2
  
  All that you touch
  And all that you see
  All that you taste
  All you feel
  And all that you love
  And all that you hate
  All you distrust
  All you save
  And all that you give
  And all that you deal
  And all that you buy Beg, borrow or steal
  And all you create
  And all you destroy
  And all that you do
  And all that you say
  And all that you eat
  And everyone you meet
  And all that you slight
  And everyone you fight
  And all that is now
  And all that is gone
  And all that's to come
  And everything under the sun is in tune
  But the sun is eclipsed by the moon
  "There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."
  
  --
  I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
5. Re:Dark Side of the Moon by camperdave · 2012-02-02 05:39 · Score: 2
  
  Pink Floyd knows nothing about selenology.
  
  --
  When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Disappointed by Rik+Sweeney · 2012-02-02 04:31 · Score: 4, Funny

No hidden Nazis, Communist strike force, or Transformers.

--
Summation 2
1. Re:Disappointed by decipher_saint · 2012-02-02 04:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  That's no space station. It's a moon!
  
  --
  crazy dynamite monkey
Toto... by ari_j · 2012-02-02 04:32 · Score: 3, Insightful

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.
Not first Video of the far side of the moon by wisebabo · 2012-02-02 04:33 · Score: 5, Informative

Actually I'm almost positive that this is not the first video of the far side of the moon (and certainly not the first images, that was done by some Russian probe back in the 60s I think).
Not only did the aforementioned Apollo astronauts take moving images (ok, maybe not technically video) of the far side during their orbits but I recall that even the recent Japanese or Chinese lunar probes were transmitting hi-def videos including (I think) a beautiful "earth-rise". Which by definition means they had to be imaging at least part of the far side.
No, this is just the first video of the far side from GRAIL (which is pretty awesome regardless). Now there is a chance that due to the fact that GRAIL entails TWO spacecraft that one could be acting as a relay which would make this the first LIVE video from the far side. But considering the small separation distance of them (less than 100km?) I doubt it.
1. Re:Not first Video of the far side of the moon by steamraven · 2012-02-02 04:49 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  From the mission page:
  
  NASA's GRAIL mission has beamed back its first video of the far side of the moon. The imagery was taken on Jan. 19 by the MoonKAM aboard the mission's "Ebb" spacecraft.
  
  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/grail/news/grail20120201.html (Emphasis added)
Now we'll know... by dr_dank · 2012-02-02 04:35 · Score: 2

Now we'll know exactly when to start the Wizard of Oz.

--
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Re:Crater witih + sign by Rik+Sweeney · 2012-02-02 04:41 · Score: 3, Funny

Whats the crater on the bottom right with the PLUS + sign thing in it?
Bloody hell, Google's taking the social networking war to the next level.

--
Summation 2
Avoid space.com by sirdude · 2012-02-02 04:41 · Score: 5, Insightful
Could everybody avoid posting links to articles on space.com? They never cite or link to sources and go overboard with interstitial, pop-up and video ads.
Links:
1. Re:Avoid space.com by Anne_Nonymous · 2012-02-02 05:53 · Score: 2
  
  >> interstitial
  Its spelled interstellar.
No house! by allcoolnameswheretak · 2012-02-02 04:45 · Score: 2

In German if someone is kinda ignorant, dumb, or stupid, they are often described as "living behind the moon."
People tend to say that to me often. Now that I have a video of the far side of the moon, finally I will be able to prove to all the idiots that they were WRONG!
prior art by Trepidity · 2012-02-02 04:49 · Score: 2

From 2007 on YouTube, here is a video. Low-res, admittedly.

--
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Noob Question by OopsIDied · 2012-02-02 04:51 · Score: 5, Interesting

I always wondered, are the speeds of rotation of the moon and Earth so perfectly synced that even after a long time the same side of the moon is facing us? I'd think there might be at least a little speed difference that over the years would cause our view of the moon to shift.
1. Re:Noob Question by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-02 04:57 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Yes, they are. Also, gravity (via tidal forces) ensures this will be case in the future as well, having caused it in the first place.
2. Re:Noob Question by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-02 05:00 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  We're tidally locked which means at this point it's most stable for the moon to always face us. If something caused the moon to speed up its rotation a little bit, for instance, tidal locking would force it to slow back down to get back perfectly in sync with Earth. Earth is headed down the same path. I can't remember how many millions or billions of years it'll take, but eventually the Moon will slow down Earth's rotation and Earth will be tidally locked to the Moon, such that the same side of Earth will always be towards the Moon.
Cool by eternaldoctorwho · 2012-02-02 04:55 · Score: 3, Interesting

There are a klot of joking posts here, but I think this really is a cool thing. Maybe I'm biased because I just finished reading Jules Verne's Around the Moon last night. We've certainly come a long way in understanding our nearest neighbor. In the book, it was hypothesized that the far side of the moon had retained an atmosphere and thus possibly supported life. Also, the craters were all thought to be volcanic in origin, but hey, Verne did a pretty good job all-in-all. Just about 100 years later, we did an actual moon fly-by similar to what he has described (only in Apollo's case, it was intentional). Modern day sci-fi writers can learn a thing or two from the greats of the past.
Grrr. First by me doesn't mean first. by mbone · 2012-02-02 05:05 · Score: 4, Informative

Here is a Clue : It's Grail's first video, not anything like the first video.
Never mind Luna 3 in 1959 (which was stills). Never mind Lunar Orbiter (stills) and Apollo (movies). Never mind that Clementine mapped the whole of the Far Side over a decade ago. What about Selene ? It had an HD camera, and sent back video of far side, including cool shots like this one, of Malapert Mt and Shackleton Crater, at the Lunar South Pole, or this video of Tsiolkovsky Crater, deep into the Far Side. These videos are cool, and worth spending some time with.
Re:Tidal Lock? by osu-neko · 2012-02-02 06:12 · Score: 2

Can someone explain why it is referred to as tidal locking? I understand the physics, but the name seems like an odd choice.
My first temptation is to explain the physics, but you claim to already understand that. But if that were the case, you would already understand the answer to your question, too. So I'm confused about what you're actually asking. I'll simply refer you here: Tidal locking. Once you understand what tidal locking is and how it occurs, why it's called that should be completely obvious.

--
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Re:Pink Floyd by mbkennel · 2012-02-02 10:12 · Score: 3, Funny

Chewie I've got a bad feeling about this.