- What-About-Your-Dark-Side-0.mp3
- What-About-Your-Dark-Side-0.mp4
- What-About-Your-Dark-Side-I.mp3
- What-About-Your-Dark-Side-I.mp4
- What-About-Your-Dark-Side-space-prelude.mp3
[Intro]
How can you hide
(Your dark side)
It comes along for the ride
[Verse 1]
Never visible?
(Never’s such a long time)
Nor dark (in principal)
Reason (and rhyme)
[Bridge]
No need to hide
(Your dark side)
Is it all dark
After all….
[Chorus]
Come into the light
(Turning just right)
Variation
(In lunar libration)
[Break]
Moon, hear me howl
[Instrumental, Synth Solo]
(Owwwwwwwwwwwwwl)
Howling at the moon
[Verse 2]
Far, far, far
(There you are)
No dark side (resides)
Just depends where you are
[Bridge]
(No) No need to hide
(Your dark side)
Is it all dark
After all….
[Chorus]
Come into the light
(Turning just right)
Variation
(In lunar libration)
[Break]
Moon, hear me howl
[Instrumental, Synth Solo]
(Owwwwwwwwwwwwwl)
Howling at the moon
[Outro]
None to soon, moon
Hear me howl
(Owwwwwwwwwwwwwl)
A SCIENCE NOTE
e always see the same face of the Moon from Earth. This phenomenon is due to a condition called synchronous rotation or tidal locking. Here’s how it works:
1. Tidal Locking
- The Moon takes approximately the same time to complete one rotation on its axis as it does to orbit the Earth—about 27.3 days.
- This synchronization means that the same hemisphere of the Moon always faces Earth, while the far side (sometimes inaccurately called the “dark side”) is never visible from our planet.
2. Why Does This Happen?
- Gravitational Forces: The Earth’s gravity creates tidal forces on the Moon, causing a “bulge” on its surface.
- Over billions of years, these forces slowed the Moon’s rotation until one side consistently faced Earth.
- This state minimizes the energy in the Moon-Earth system, creating a stable configuration.
3. Variations: Lunar Libration
While we see the same face, the view isn’t perfectly static:
- The Moon wobbles slightly due to its elliptical orbit, axial tilt, and variations in orbital speed. This wobble is called libration, and it allows us to see up to 59% of the Moon’s surface over time (though not all at once).
4. Misconceptions About the Far Side
- The Moon’s far side is not always dark; it receives sunlight just like the near side.
- The far side remained unexplored until space missions like the Soviet Luna 3 in 1959 photographed it, and China’s Chang’e 4 landed there in 2019.
Conclusion
We always see the same face of the Moon due to tidal locking, but slight libration lets us glimpse a bit more. This phenomenon illustrates the powerful influence of gravity and the long-term effects of celestial interactions.