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Ephemeris: 04/11/2024 – What is the far side of the Moon good for?

April 11, 2024 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, April 11th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 8:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:02. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 12:40 tomorrow morning.

The Last Monday when we were having an eclipse of the Sun, the far side of the Moon was fully illuminated. So it can’t possibly be the dark side of the Moon, not permanently. The dark side of the Moon is the night side and Monday that was the side facing the Earth. But what’s the far side of the Moon good for? The Chinese seem to be very interested in it. They have a lander and a rover on the far side, and they’re going to go back and grab a sample from the far side and bring it back to the Earth. The far side of the Moon is one place in the whole solar system in which the cacophony of radio signals from the Earth cannot be heard so it’s a great place to set up a radio telescope. The craters on the far side of the moon might be used to place a dish antenna.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT–4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Near Side and Far Side of the Moon Compared
The near side and the far side of the Moon compared. Notice how different they are with the near side dominated by the dark lava seas and the far side by the less dark highlands. The one sea on the far side is at 10 o’clock is the Sea of Moscow, and the other dark spot to the lower lower left about 8 o’clock is the crater Tsiolkovsky named after famous Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)a pioneer in aeronautic, and rocket theory. The Soviets were first to send a probe (Luna 3) around the far side of the Moon in 1959, and got to name the major features they photographed.
Lunar Crater Radio Telescope
A concept for a lunar crater radio telescope . The telescope is in the style of Arecibo, the now collapsed radio telescope in Puerto Rico . Aiming would be accomplished by shifting the suspended receiver. Credit: NASA, Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay.
Categories: The Moon Tags: ,