Posted on 10/08/2020 3:33:03 PM PDT by MtnClimber
The Moon is what they call ‘Tidally Locked’ to the Earth, so that it’s always ‘facing’ the Earth.
That simply means its rate of rotation is equal to its rate of revolution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking
Our Moon is not unique in this respect. Other planets moons are also Tidally Locked to their planet, but not all.
For decades it was thought that Mercury was TOTALLY Tidally Locked to the Sun, and therefore had a ‘hot’ side and a ‘cold’ side, but modern instruments and satellites have shown that it does rotate, albeit very slowly. It has a 3:2 rotation per revolution ratio, so that it turns 3 times in 2 revolutions, unique among the planets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)
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