This 2011 global mosaic of the Moon comprises more than fifteen thousand photographs taken by the Wide Angle Camera on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which captures almost the entire surface of the Moon every month. The photo is one of the most complete looks at the far side of the Moon. Until lunar probes and astronauts explored the Moon in 1959, we had never seen the lunar far side, as it never appears in Earth’s night sky. Tidal forces between Earth and our Moon have affected the Moon’s rotation so that it only ever reveals its luminous “near side” to us, a phenomenon known as tidal locking. While the near side is marked with basaltic plains known as “maria,” the result of ancient volcanic activity, the far side has far fewer maria and a higher number of impact craters. - Nirmala Nataraj
Image via NASA, Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project
