Astronomy and Space

Planets and Moons

Why does the moon always keep the same face toward Earth?

Only one side of the moon is seen because it always rotates in exactly the same length of time that it takes to revolve about Earth. This combination of motions (called “captured rotation”) means that it always keeps the same side toward Earth.



Close

This is a web preview of the "The Handy Science Answer Book" app. Many features only work on your mobile device. If you like what you see, we hope you will consider buying. Get the App