the moon

[ranor]

how long does it take the moon to orbit the earth?

[Gef]

About 28 days or 1 lunar month.

[Bob Carter]

27.322 days. Or thereabouts.

[anthomson]

... which is exactly the same time it takes the moon to rotate around its own axis (lunar day), this is why we always see the same face of the moon despite the fact it is spinning.

 

 

[ezapf]

I thought we see different faces of the moon but only one side always faces the sun. Hence, the dark side of the moon, no?

[anthomson]

It refered to as the dark side because it is always pointing away from us so we cannot see it from Earth not because it is never illuminated by the sun. You will always see the same pattern of craters if you look at the moon with a telescope. The dark side would be illuminated by the sun at times - when it is almost fully illuminated it would appear as a 'new' mooon here.

[bernardo]

I have only ever heard of it being referred to as the "far side" of ther moon, not the "dark side".

[trilobite]

.. wish I'd never heard 'Dark Side of the Moon' too, bernado. Sadly, I bought it when it first came out.....