The moon invariably faces the Earth with the same side. And this is normal, so many satellites of the planets behave. The dark side of the moon for a long time remained one of the main mysteries tormenting the minds of astronomers, until in 1959 the Soviet interplanetary station "Luna-3" photographed this part of the lunar surface not visible from our planet. Approximately 70% of the image of the dark side of the moon was transmitted to Earth.
Pictures of the dark side of the moon
The photographs surprised scientists a lot. The far side of the moon differed from its familiar appearance for us as strikingly as the images of people of different races differ. The side visible to us is dotted with bluish-black spots. Traditionally, these lunar "birthmarks" - vast depressions covered with solidified lava - are called "seas." On the dark side, there were almost no seas; they occupied only a few percent of its territory. Therefore, in spite of the epithet "dark" which is akin to it, the reverse side of the Moon is much brighter than the part visible to us; it has higher albedo, reflectivity. The two sides of a satellite are not alike, like night and day, like light and darkness. The moon is truly two-faced.
How the sides of the moon differ
In a little more than half a century, more than 70 expeditions, both manned and automatic, have visited her. Astronomers are constantly convinced that there are many more differences between the two sides of the moon than statistics allow - a random spread of parameters.
The dark side of the Moon is heavily crushed, which may mean that it is older than the visible part of it. If with the help of ground-based telescopes we can see more than 40 thousand craters, then on the other side there are much more of them. The chemical composition of the two lunar sides is also different. The surface we see is replete with radioactive elements, such as thorium. Traces of volcanic activity are also much more noticeable here.
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Why are the lunar sides different?
The reason for this kind of discrepancy is largely unclear. Perhaps the fate of the two halves of the moon was divided by a single blow. It is known that after the Moon was formed in a collision with the Proto-Earth of a celestial body the size of Mars, the entire surface of the newborn planet was covered with an "ocean" of incandescent magma, whose depth was more than five hundred kilometers.
This incandescent magma cooled unevenly. The visible lunar surface was rife with radioactive elements; their decay warmed up the seething strata, preventing it from petrifying. The other side hardened earlier. At first, here, in one place, then in another, stone islands appeared - such a semblance of "ice mountains", icebergs, in the seas washing Antarctica. They grew, connecting with each other. And now the entire ocean from the dark side of the moon was dressed in stone, as in ice.
At that time, our corner of the solar system was going through one of the most difficult periods in its history. The Earth and its neighboring planets - Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon - were simultaneously and monstrously bombarded by asteroids and comets. The traces of those "star wars", played out about 3.9 billion years ago, are still carried by our satellite, always turning away from us its face, "disfigured by numerous pockmarks," as one might say in the old days.
What's on the dark side of the moon?
The largest of these non-healing wounds is Aitken Crater, located near the South Lunar Pole. Its diameter is about 2,500 km, and its depth is about 13 km. The lunar mountains, which soared up to 6,000 m, are reminiscent of that ancient period of time. Unlike the Andes or the Alps, they grew not in millions of years, but in a matter of seconds! They were formed as a result of the fall of huge asteroids on the lunar surface, rushing at a speed of tens of thousands of kilometers per hour.
Ufologists about the Moon
According to the long-standing theory of UFO hunters, the oldest alien base is located on the dark side of the moon. It is likely that this is not even one base, but a huge deployed laboratory complex for the study of all aspects of human life.
It is assumed that the aliens come from some other star system. It can be assumed that for long-term observations and constant visits to the Earth, they should have a working base in our system. And of course, approaching the question this way, the far side of the moon would be the best place for an observer base.
In support of this version, the authors of many publications about the economy of aliens on our satellite refer to the statements of William Cooper, a once high-ranking US intelligence officer. 1989 - Cooper allegedly under oath - this was at a special meeting of the UN Committee on Space Exploration - said that the US government is aware of alien ships appearing near the earth, and is well aware of the alien lunar complex.
An ex-NASA employee published a classified image of an alien base on the moon.
Some of the videos allegedly filmed by the crews of the Apollo missions show details of the alien base. - There are huge quarry cars, not far away there is a large UFO - most likely the transport that transports the mined. In the center of the crater, where all this action takes place, gigantic towers rise. Of course, all this is very suspicious information - for example, the Apollo 8 expedition, and the Luna 3 spacecraft, have not seen any bases on the lunar surface.
For what reason did the Soviet and American scientists abandon manned flights to our satellite? At the same time, they refused almost simultaneously, as if in agreement. Could it be that someone - say, the owners of space bases - actually gave us a turn from the gate?
During one visit, the Americans discovered the destroyed remains of ancient structures and a cemetery of alien creatures! After assessing the condition of the remains of the buildings, experts came to the conclusion about a deliberate explosion. Reflecting on the destruction, graveyard and warning signs, researchers draw conclusions about the unknown epidemic that killed the ancient aliens - which even their more advanced than our knowledge did not defeat. Having interpreted all these "Signs" in their own way, people decided to get away from the Moon, but continue to conduct remote study …
Paranormal researchers
Confirmation of the alien base on the invisible side of our satellite, and therefore proof of the existence of aliens, was brought by a psychic and a person who knows how to live in the astral field of the earth Ingo Swann. Astral travel specialist Ingo Swann allegedly worked for the US government and was involved in the creation of the psychic observation program in the 1970s.
As an example of his amazing abilities, let us cite the discovery of 1973. While making an astral journey to Jupiter, Swann confidently stated that the rings of Jupiter represent a gas and dust formation. This was confirmed 6 years later by Voyager 1, in 1979.
In one of his astral journeys to the night satellite of the Earth, Swann, examining the dark side of the Moon, came across buildings of extraterrestrial origin.
While in the astral body, the traveler saw high towers in the depths of the crater, from the tops of which came powerful illumination of the crater. As the researcher himself told about his experience, he was stunned by the realization of the importance and improbability of the fact that some civilization had built some structures on the Moon.
Moreover, building on his success, Swann mentally went into the depths of the alien structure, where he saw two humanoids. He also realized that the aliens sensed his presence, after which the visit was interrupted, and he himself was "thrown" from the moon! - In the sense of his astral body.
The moon turned over
Several years ago, reflecting on the ancient lunar history, astronomers from France Marc Veczorek and Mathieu Lefebvre even put forward a version that during the "space bombing" the Moon survived a blow of such force that it made a unique somersault. As they believe, at that time the satellite of the Earth looked at us precisely with its bright bright "back side".
The line of reasoning that preceded their version is as follows. Starting to analyze the location of lunar craters, we could expect that in the western part of the satellite, as viewed from the Earth, there will be more of them than in the eastern (according to calculations, there should be about a third more of them). After all, this part of the lunar surface - let us turn to this comparison - is its "windshield". Meteorites should crash here more often, because, circling near the Earth, our satellite is always directed forward by this particular half. Likewise, if we look at the comparison we used, more drops get into the windshield of a car when it rains than into the rear window.
Here the expectations were partly confirmed. The western part of the moon actually has more craters than the eastern one - but only young ones, those that were formed less than 3.9 billion years ago. With older craters, the opposite is true. Therefore, the researchers made the assumption that about 3.9 billion years ago, the Moon experienced such a powerful collision with an asteroid that in the next several tens of thousands of years it turned 180 °. After which the "white" became "dark", and the Moon took its present position.
So far, just guesswork
Be that as it may, on the side of the Moon visible to us, liquid magma has been pouring out for a long time through numerous cracks in the surface rocks and spreading out, filling vast depressions. These dark basalt deposits of volcanic rocks remain a special feature of the Moon to this day. Almost a third of the entire visible surface of our "night companion" is covered with seas. Why didn't such a geological mechanism bloom the "dark side of the moon" with blotches of black spots, made it "darkest"? Scientists have not known the answer to this question for more than half a century. All that remains for us for now is just guesswork.
Perhaps the whole point is that on the side of our satellite, which it never turns to us, the lunar crust is more powerful? There it is twice as thick as on the visible side of the moon; there its thickness reaches about 150 km. As you can see, it was not easy for the magmatic flows to break through this "armor", to spill the sea onto the firmament. New lunar expeditions can bring clarity.
Two satellites
August 2011 - Planetary scientists from the Universities of Berne and California have proposed a new explanation for this paradox. According to their hypothesis, at the beginning the Earth had two satellites - the Moon and another small planet. Its diameter was 1200 km and its mass was approximately 4% of the lunar mass. A computer model showed that this system existed in equilibrium for about 100 million years, until both Earth's satellites eventually collided with each other. The tiny satellite literally "flattened" on the far side of the moon. This is why its crust is much thicker than that of the front side.
Lunar feature
… Studies of the lunar surface are also interesting because erosion processes are expressed there to a much lesser extent than on Earth. Much more evidence has been preserved there that relates to the distant geological past of the Moon - to its most ancient period of history. On our planet, all these traces of the past have long disappeared in its depths. Meanwhile, one should not forget that the Moon is a part of the Earth, it was “born from its rib”. Much of what we would like to know about the "young years" of the Earth, we could ask the Moon. The more we comprehend it, the more we understand the Earth.
