Why do we see the man in the moon?
Monday, March 12, 2012 - 10:30
in Astronomy & Space
There's something poetic about gazing up at the night sky, seeing the familiar face of the "Man in the Moon" who faithfully accompanies us through life. The synchronous rotation of the Moon -- it takes the same amount of time to spin around its own axis as it does to revolve around Earth -- is what causes the Moon to "lock eyes" with Earth. The synchronous rotation of the moon taking the same amount of time to spin around its own axis as it does to revolve around Earth is what causes the moon to "lock eyes" with Earth, resulting in one of its hemispheres constantly facing us. Through careful analysis and simulations, scientists have shown that it is not coincidence but the moon's geophysical properties that determine its orientation.