The Dark Side of the Moon Used to Face Us

The Moon might have, at some point, been facing us with its “dark side,” a new astronomical theory points out. French researchers at the Paris Institute of Earth Physics have analyzed the disposition of dozens of crater on the lunar surface, and have concluded that the oldest ones are simply not positioned correctly on our satellite's surface, considering the fact that its main role over the millenia has been to protect our planet from asteroid and meteorite impacts, by taking most of them head-on. It's far-side, the one that never reveals itself to telescopes on, or around the Earth, might at some point have faced us, as far as the new study goes.

Mark Wieczorek and Matthieu Le Feuvre, both at the Institute, hypothesize that the asteroid belt around us would has caused massive damage to any celestial body in its path, and say that the Moon must have been one of these objects. The two astronomers have analyzed 46 craters they thought to be made by space debris, and have come to the conclusion that the western hemisphere of the Moon, which they expected would be the most heavily bombarded, actually exhibited craters that were younger than most on the other side.

They have concluded that the only explanation for this would be that the eastern hemisphere led the way at some point. Basically, when the Moon rotates around the Earth, it moves towards the west, so it would make sense that the west side would be most damaged by impact. This is similar to when driving a car in the rain – more drops hit the windshield and not the back of the vehicle. Astronomical observations of the east side of our satellites have shown that it exhibits the oldest craters, which means that, at some point, the other side of the Moon was facing the Earth.

The only theory the team has been able to come up with, thus far, is that our natural satellite was struck by a large asteroid or meteorite many years ago, and that it then flipped sides, showing its former dark side, and hiding the old one. However, we couldn't have known this, seeing how, when this happened, people most likely were not around to look up and notice the difference.