Why Do We Only See One Side of the Moon?

Cleo Abram May 30, 2025
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Cleo Abram

@CleoAbram

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Video journalist making optimistic tech explainers. Huge If True. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleoabram If you'd like to sponsor a Huge If True episode, reach out at the email below. If you're looking for my bio, here it is: Cleo Abram is a video journalist who produces Huge If True, an optimistic show about science and technology. Huge If True is an antidote to the doom and gloom, helping a wide audience see better futures they can help build. In each episode, Cleo dives deep into one innovation that could shape the future. She has explored humanoid robots at Boston Dynamics, supersonic planes at NASA, quantum computers at IBM, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and more. Previously, Cleo was a video producer at Vox and directed for Explained on Netflix. She was the host of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as co-host of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Video Description

Why do we only ever see one side of the moon? The moon completes one rotation around its own axis in the same amount of time it orbits earth. The two are perfectly in sync! But it wasn’t always that way... When the moon formed, likely from a collision with earth, it was a hot molten object spinning wildly, changing shape, pulled by Earth’s gravity. As it settled into its orbit, Earth’s gravity pulled on its closer edge, making it into an oval shape. This created an uneven pull as it rotated on its axis. Over time this constant tug on the Moon’s bulge… caused its rotation to slow, and eventually match Earth’s… This is “tidal locking,” an effect that’s actually quite common and found in most large moons in our solar system. Because of this, humanity didn’t see the back of our own moon until 1959. And turns out it looks COMPLETELY different! If you want to know WHY, subscribe! #shorts #animation #moon #science #technology #historyfacts

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