The highlands appear to have formed early in the moon’s history, when a magma ocean, shaped by tides caused by Earth’s gravity, heated the moon’s floating crust non-uniformly. Data and fitted P2 function beyond the fit region are illustrated in blue with 95% confidence intervals (dashed lines). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, NASA's Apollo missions landed six spacecraft on the Moon, and astronauts brought back 382 kg of Moon rocks to try to understand the origin of the Moon using chemical analysis. The value of a corresponds to up to tens of million years of lunar evolution, during which the crust may have grown by tens of kilometers (SOM), relatively consistent with the calculated thickness, given our uncertainty in early orbital evolution. However, the relict of that epoch identified here has linked two previously disparate sections of the Moon and implicates the role of ancient tidal processes in defining the present-day structure of the lunar crust.

Generally, the lack of agreement is due to the superposition of a weak pole-to-equator surface temperature effect and degree-4 harmonic on the model’s stronger degree-2 pattern (SOM).

We show that much of the topography and crustal thickness in this terrain can be described by a degree-2 harmonic. On the far side, the Moon phases are exactly opposite from the ones we see from Earth, on the near side. The DTT extends for ~40° of arc into the lunar nearside, crossing mare units in Oceanus Procellarum and parts of Mare Frigoris (Fig. Research suggests that when the lunar crust floated on an ocean of molten rock, tidal effects caused distortions that were later frozen in place.

Humans had no idea what the far side of the Moon looked like until October 1959, when a Soviet spacecraft, Luna 3, transmitted the first grainy …

(C) and (D) Same as (A) and (B), but for crustal thickness. 3). Like all celestial objects with elliptical orbits, the Moon's speed varies a little on its path around Earth. Physically, the imperfect agreement may be due to subsequent thermal processes that altered the distribution of crustal thickness near the PKT and elsewhere. Now, using a combination of observation, laboratory experiments and computer modelling, scientists from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology, the University of Florida, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Towson University, NASA Johnson Space Center and the University of New Mexico have brought some new clues as to how the Moon gained its near- and far-side asymmetry. Further, the value of e is not inconsistent with our knowledge of the early lunar eccentricity (SOM). For many hundreds of years, humankind wondered what the far side of the Moon was like.

The degree-2 structure of the lunar farside highlands. ", Also known as William or Bill Cooper, he wrote about his theories in such booklets as The Secret Government: The Origin, Identity and Purpose of MJ-12 and his 1991 book Behold A Pale Horse. Why can we never see it? Interestingly enough, if NASA had any hand in the Chinese moon landing, they would be breaking the law. In fact, the plan is to land astronauts on the far side of the Moon! Therefore, early tidal dissipation is presently the strongest candidate for the formation of the DTT.

"It was seen and filmed by the Apollo Astronauts. 2). "There is a HUGE alien moon base complex on the far side of the moon," the website says. The far side had almost no maria. For example, the use of the above parameters (with Tb = 1225°C and qo = 30 mW/m2) yields a crustal-thickness amplitude of 44 km (mean thickness = 39 km), which is close to the observed values. "Swann 'saw' with his mind's eye craters in darkness, and decided that he must be seeing the hidden side of the moon, the side that always faces away from the Earth. The far side of the moon has comparatively thick crust as compared to that of the near side. Because the farside highlands may be a relict of very early thermal processes, understanding their structure and formation may help constrain models of global lunar evolution and magma-ocean processes in general. "In the depths of a crater he viewed a green, dusty haze lit by banks of artificial lights mounted on very large, tall towers. A consequence of tidally driven crustal-thickness variations is that the subsurface magma ocean will be thicker and thinner in regions of thinner and thicker crust, respectively, assuming negligible mantle topography (Fig. Here's why. Today, we have detailed maps of the Moon’s topography, including of the once mysterious far side. Black and blue arrows indicate fit and prediction directions, respectively. Predominantly degree-2 crustal-thickness variations similar to those in the DTT may arise in tidally heated satellites with subsurface liquid oceans, such as Europa and Titan. Because dissipation is greatest at the poles and least at the equatorial 0° and 180° longitudes, the crust becomes thinner and thicker in those locations, respectively, for low-obliquity orbits.

Finally, if the DTT center was once nearer to 0°N, 180°E, as implied by the tidal-heating calculations developed below, it would imply the Moon’s minimum moment of inertia axis has shifted only ~35° since crust formation. Since the Moon revolves around Earth on an elliptical path, the Moon's distance from Earth varies from day to day.

And we apparently have plans to do so. 1. When we see the Moon fully illuminated at Full Moon, the far side is in darkness. So the far side of the Moon is not as mysterious as it once was. 1. Soon thereafter, photos from the lander showcased a side of the moon that's rarely seen — and has never been seen in this amount of detail.. If they do, they may be the first since the 1972 ending of NASA's Apollo program. An aerial panorama of the probe and its lunar surroundings. See Venus cozy up to the Waning Crescent Moon in the early morning hours.