An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The Moon’s hemisphere which is not visible from the Earth. The Moon always shows the same face to the Earth, because Earth and Moon are → tidally locked. This means that the period of → lunar rotation on it axis is the same as its sidereal revolution period around the Earth (→ sidereal month). In other words, the Moon is in → synchronous rotation with the Earth. As a result, the same side always faces the Earth.

To be more precise, taking the lunar → libration into account, the Moon presents about 59% of its surface to Earth. → libration in longitude, → libration in latitude, → physical libration, → geometrical libration.

See also: → lunar; → far; → side.