Far side of the Moon#Named features

File:Synchronous rotation.svg

Tidal forces from Earth have slowed the Moon's rotation to the point where the same side is always facing the Earth—a phenomenon called tidal locking. The other face, most of which is never visible from the Earth, is therefore called the "far side of the Moon". Over time, some crescent-shaped edges of the far side can be seen due to libration.{{cite journal|url=https://faselunar.co/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214013959/https://faselunar.co/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 December 2022 |journal=NASA |title=Libration of the Moon }} In total, 59 percent of the Moon's surface is visible from Earth at one time or another. Useful observation of the parts of the far side of the Moon occasionally visible from Earth is difficult because of the low viewing angle from Earth (they cannot be observed "full on").

A common misconception is that the Moon does not rotate on its axis. If that were so, the whole of the Moon would be visible to Earth over the course of its orbit. Instead, its rotation period matches its orbital period, meaning it turns around once for every orbit it makes: in Earth terms, it could be said that its day and its year have the same length (i.e., ~29.5 earth days).

The phrase "dark side of the Moon" does not refer to "dark" as in the absence of light, but rather "dark" as in unknown: until humans were able to send spacecraft around the Moon, this area had never been seen. In reality, both the near and far sides receive (on average) almost equal amounts of light directly from the Sun. This symmetry is complicated by sunlight reflected from the Earth onto the near side (earthshine), and by lunar eclipses, which occur only when the far side is already dark. Lunar eclipses mean that the side facing earth receives fractionally less sunlight than the far side when considered over a long period of time.

At night under a "full Earth" the near side of the Moon receives on the order of 10 lux of illumination (about what a city sidewalk under streetlights gets; this is 34 times more light than is received on Earth under a full Moon) whereas the far side of the Moon during the lunar night receives only about 0.001 lux of starlight.{{cite web |url=http://hopsblog-hop.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-dark-side-of-moon.html |title=The Dark Side of the Moon |date=18 January 2013 }} Only during a full Moon (as viewed from Earth) is the whole far side of the Moon dark.

The word dark has expanded to refer also to the fact that communication with spacecraft can be blocked while the spacecraft is on the far side of the Moon, during Apollo space missions for example.{{cite web |url=http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/bill-dunford/20130429-dark-no-more-exploring-the.html |title=Dark No More: Exploring the Far Side of the Moon |date=29 April 2013 }}

{{see also|Lunar mare}}

File:Moon Farside LRO.jpg visible, by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)]]

The two hemispheres of the Moon have dramatically different appearances, with the near side covered in multiple, large maria (Latin for 'seas', since the earliest astronomers incorrectly thought that these plains were seas of lunar water).

The far side has a battered, densely cratered appearance with few maria. Only 1% of the surface of the far side is covered by maria,{{cite journal |author1=J. J. Gillis |author2=P. D. Spudis | title=The Composition and Geologic Setting of Lunar Far Side Maria | journal=Lunar and Planetary Science | date=1996 | volume=27 | page=413| bibcode=1996LPI....27..413G }} compared to 31.2% on the near side. One commonly accepted explanation for this difference is related to a higher concentration of heat-producing elements on the near-side hemisphere, as has been demonstrated by geochemical maps obtained from the Lunar Prospector gamma-ray spectrometer. While other factors, such as surface elevation and crustal thickness, could also affect where basalts erupt, these do not explain why the far side South Pole–Aitken basin (which contains the lowest elevations of the Moon and possesses a thin crust) was not as volcanically active as Oceanus Procellarum on the near side.

It has also been proposed that the differences between the two hemispheres may have been caused by a collision with a smaller companion moon that also originated from the Theia collision.{{cite journal |author1=M. Jutzi |author2=E. Asphaug | title=Forming the lunar farside highlands by accretion of a companion moon | journal=Nature | date=2011 | volume=476 | pages=69–72 | doi=10.1038/nature10289 |bibcode = 2011Natur.476...69J |issue=7358 |pmid=21814278 |s2cid=84558 }} In this model, the impact led to an accretionary pile rather than a crater, contributing a hemispheric layer of extent and thickness that may be consistent with the dimensions of the far side highlands. The chemical composition of the far side is inconsistent with this model.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

The far side has more visible craters. This is thought to be a result of the effects of lunar lava flows, which cover and obscure craters, rather than a shielding effect from the Earth. NASA calculates that the Earth obscures only about 4 square degrees out of 41,000 square degrees of the sky as seen from the Moon. "This makes the Earth negligible as a shield for the Moon [and] it is likely that each side of the Moon has received equal numbers of impacts, but the resurfacing by lava results in fewer craters visible on the near side than the far side, even though both sides have received the same number of impacts."Near-side/far-side impact crater counts by David Morrison and Brad Bailey, NASA. http://lunarscience.nasa.gov/?question=3318. Accessed 9 January 2013.

Newer research suggests that heat from Earth at the time when the Moon was formed is the reason the near side has fewer impact craters. The lunar crust consists primarily of plagioclases formed when aluminium and calcium condensed and combined with silicates in the mantle. The cooler far side experienced condensation of these elements sooner and so formed a thicker crust; meteoroid impacts on the near side would sometimes penetrate the thinner crust here and release basaltic lava that created the maria, but would rarely do so on the far side.{{cite web |url=http://news.psu.edu/story/317841/2014/06/09/research/55-year-old-dark-side-moon-mystery-solved |title=55-year-old dark side of the moon mystery solved |last1=Messer |first1=A'ndrea Elyse |date=9 June 2014 |website=Penn State University |access-date=27 June 2016}}

The far side exhibits more extreme variations in terrain elevation than the near side. The Moon's highest and lowest points, along with its tallest mountains measured from base to peak, are all located on the far side.[https://moonsummits.carrd.co The Moon's Highs and Lows]

File:Luna 3 moon.jpg, which revealed for the first time the far side of the Moon. Clearly visible is Mare Moscoviense (top right) and a mare triplet of Mare Crisium, Mare Marginis and Mare Smythii (left center).]]

File:Luna 3 grainy photo restoration and comparison with LRO.png

Until the late 1950s, little was known about the far side of the Moon. Librations periodically allowed limited glimpses of features near the lunar limb on the far side, but only up to 59% of the total surface of the Moon.{{cite web|url=https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/how-much-of-the-moon-can-we-see-from-earth-lunar-libration|title=How much moon do we see? {{!}} EarthSky.org|website=earthsky.org|language=en-US|access-date=6 February 2019}} These features were seen from a low angle, hindering useful observation (it proved difficult to distinguish a crater from a mountain range). The remaining 82% of the surface on the far side remained unknown, and its properties were subject to much speculation.

An example of a far side feature that can be seen through libration is the Mare Orientale, which is a prominent impact basin spanning almost {{convert|1000|km|mi|-2|abbr=in}}, yet this was not even named as a feature until 1906, by Julius Franz in Der Mond. The true nature of the basin was discovered in the 1960s when rectified images were projected onto a globe. The basin was photographed in fine detail by Lunar Orbiter 4 in 1967. Before space exploration began, astronomers expected that the far side would be similar to the side visible to Earth.{{Cite magazine

|last=Ley

|first=Willy

|date=April 1966

|title=The Re-Designed Solar System

|department=For Your Information

|url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v24n04_1966-04#page/n63/mode/1up

|magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction

|pages=126–136

}}

On 7 October 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photographs of the lunar far side, eighteen of them resolvable,{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-008A|title=NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}{{r|ley196604}} covering one-third of the surface invisible from the Earth.[http://bse.sci-lib.com/article071686.html Луна (спутник Земли)], Great Soviet Encyclopedia The images were analysed, and the first atlas of the far side of the Moon was published by the USSR Academy of Sciences on 6 November 1960.АТЛАС ОБРАТНОЙ СТОРОНЫ ЛУНЫ, Ч. 1, Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1960{{cite web|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Timeline/1960.html|title=Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology, 1960|first=Roger D.|last=Launius|website=www.hq.nasa.gov|access-date=14 January 2007|archive-date=14 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714212643/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Timeline/1960.html|url-status=dead}} It included a catalog of 500 distinguished features of the landscape.{{in lang|ru}} [http://heritage.sai.msu.ru/hist/150let.html Chronology, 1804–1980, to the 150th anniversary of GAISh – Moscow State University observatory]. MSU In 1961, the first globe (1:{{val|13600000}} scale){{in lang|ru}} [http://selena.sai.msu.ru/Symposium/maps_r.doc Moon maps and globes, created with the participation of Lunar and Planetary Research Department of SAI]. SAI containing lunar features invisible from the Earth was released in the USSR, based on images from Luna 3.{{cite web|url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/sphaera/index.htm?issue1/articl6|title=Sphæra: the Newsletter of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford|website=www.mhs.ox.ac.uk}}

On 20 July 1965, another Soviet probe, Zond 3, transmitted 25 pictures of very good quality of the lunar far side,{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-056A|title=NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}} with much better resolution than those from Luna 3. In particular, they revealed chains of craters, hundreds of kilometers in length, but, unexpectedly, no mare plains like those visible from Earth with the naked eye.{{r|ley196604}} In 1967, the second part of the Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was published in Moscow,Atlas Obratnoy Storony Luny, p.2, Moscow: Nauka, 1967{{Cite web|url=http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/cyberspace/moon/observing.html|title=Observing the Moon Throughout History|website=Adler Planetarium|language=en|access-date=1 December 2020|archive-date=22 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222182736/http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/cyberspace/moon/observing.html|url-status=dead}} based on data from Zond 3, with the catalog now including 4,000 newly discovered features of the lunar far side landscape. In the same year, the first Complete Map of the Moon (1:{{val|5000000}} scale) and updated complete globe (1:{{val|10000000}} scale), featuring 95 percent of the lunar surface, were released in the Soviet Union.{{cite web|url=http://selena.sai.msu.ru/Home/Resear/ResearE.htm|title=Works of the Department of lunar and planetary research of GAISh MGU|website=selena.sai.msu.ru}}{{in lang|ru}} [http://selena.sai.msu.ru/Rod/Publications/Map_moon/Map_moon.htm Moon Maps]. MSU

As many prominent landscape features of the far side were discovered by Soviet space probes, Soviet scientists selected names for them. This caused some controversy, though the Soviet Academy of Sciences selected many non-Soviet names, including Jules Verne, Marie Curie and Thomas Edison.{{cite book |last1=Reichl |first1=Eugen |title=The Soviet Space Program – The Lunar Mission Years: 1959 to 1976 |date=2019 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing Ltd |page=29 |id={{ASIN|0764356755|country=au}} }} The International Astronomical Union later accepted many of the names.

File:Back side of the Moon AS16-3021.jpg and Mare Smythii visible, photographed by Apollo 16 in 1972. It is much more cratered than the near side of the Moon.]]

On 26 April 1962, NASA's Ranger 4 space probe became the first spacecraft to impact the far side of the Moon, although it failed to return any scientific data before impact.{{cite journal |title=Discussion |journal=Space Policy |volume=14 |issue=1 |year=1998 |pages=5–8 |doi=10.1016/S0265-9646(97)00038-6 |bibcode=1998SpPol..14....5. }}

The first truly comprehensive and detailed mapping survey of the far side was undertaken by the American uncrewed Lunar Orbiter program launched by NASA from 1966 to 1967. Most of the coverage of the far side was provided by the final probe in the series, Lunar Orbiter 5.

The far side was first seen directly by human eyes during the Apollo 8 mission in December, 1968. Astronaut William Anders described the view:

{{blockquote|"The backside looks like a sand pile my kids have played in for some time. It's all beat up, no definition, just a lot of bumps and holes."|author=|title=|source=}}

It has been seen by all 24 men who flew on Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 through Apollo 17, and photographed by multiple lunar probes. Spacecraft passing behind the Moon were out of direct radio communication with the Earth, and had to wait until the orbit allowed transmission. During the Apollo missions, the main engine of the Service Module was fired when the vessel was behind the Moon, producing some tense moments in Mission Control before the craft reappeared.

Geologist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who became the last to step onto the Moon, had aggressively lobbied for Apollo 17's landing site to be on the far side of the Moon, targeting the lava-filled crater Tsiolkovskiy. Schmitt's ambitious proposal included a special communications satellite based on the existing TIROS satellites to be launched into a Farquhar–Lissajous halo orbit around the L2 point so as to maintain line-of-sight contact with the astronauts during their powered descent and lunar surface operations. NASA administrators rejected these plans on the grounds of added risk and lack of funding.

The idea of utilizing the Earth–Moon {{L2|nolink=yes}} for a communications satellite covering the Moon's far side has been realized, as China National Space Administration launched the Queqiao relay satellite in 2018.{{cite magazine |last=Jones |first=Andrew |title=Chang'e-4 relay satellite enters halo orbit around Earth-Moon L2, microsatellite in lunar orbit |url=https://spacenews.com/change-4-relay-satellite-enters-halo-orbit-around-earth-moon-l2-microsatellite-in-lunar-orbit/ |magazine=SpaceNews |date=14 June 2018}} It has since been used for communications between the Chang'e 4 lander and Yutu 2 rover, which successfully landed in early 2019 on the lunar far side, and ground stations on the Earth. L2 is proposed to be "an ideal location" for a propellant depot as part of the proposed depot-based space transportation architecture.{{cite web |last1=Zegler |first1=Frank |title=Evolving to a Depot-Based Space Transportation Architecture |url=http://www.ulalaunch.com/uploads/docs/Published_Papers/Exploration/DepotBasedTransportationArchitecture2010.pdf |work=AIAA SPACE 2010 Conference & Exposition |publisher=AIAA |access-date=25 January 2011 |first2=Bernard |last2=Kutter |date=2 September 2010 |page=4 |quote=L₂ is in deep space far away from any planetary surface and hence the thermal, micrometeoroid, and atomic oxygen environments are vastly superior to those in LEO. Thermodynamic stasis and extended hardware life are far easier to obtain without these punishing conditions seen in LEO. L₂ is not just a great gateway—it is a great place to store propellants. ... L₂ is an ideal location to store propellants and cargos: it is close, high energy, and cold. More importantly, it allows the continuous onward movement of propellants from LEO depots, thus suppressing their size and effectively minimizing the near-Earth boiloff penalties. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140624125633/http://www.ulalaunch.com/uploads/docs/Published_Papers/Exploration/DepotBasedTransportationArchitecture2010.pdf |archive-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead }}

File:ChangE-4 - PCAM.png

The China National Space Administration (CNSA)'s Chang'e 4 achieved humanity's first ever soft landing on the lunar far side on 3 January 2019 and deployed the Yutu-2 lunar rover onto the lunar surface.{{cite news |title=Chinese spacecraft makes first landing on moon's far side |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/chinese-spacecraft-makes-first-landing-on-moons-far-side/articleshow/67359945.cms |access-date=3 January 2019 |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Times of India |date=3 January 2019}}

The craft included a lander equipped with a low-frequency radio spectrograph and geological research tools.{{cite web | url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-09/08/c_134603260.htm | title=China aims to land Chang'e-4 probe on far side of moon | publisher=Xinhua English News | date=8 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910061302/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-09/08/c_134603260.htm | archive-date=10 September 2015 | url-status=dead }} The far side of the Moon provides a good environment for radio astronomy as interferences from the Earth are blocked by the Moon.

In February 2020, Chinese astronomers reported, for the first time, a high-resolution image of a lunar ejecta sequence, as well as direct analysis of its internal architecture. These were based on observations made by the Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) on board the Yutu-2 rover.{{cite news |last=Chang |first=Kenneth |title=China's Rover Finds Layers of Surprise Under Moon's Far Side – The Chang'e-4 mission, the first to land on the lunar far side, is demonstrating the promise and peril of using ground-penetrating radar in planetary science. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/science/china-moon-far-side.html |date=26 February 2020 |work=The New York Times |access-date=27 February 2020 }}{{cite journal |author=Li, Chunlai |display-authors=et al. |title=The Moon's farside shallow subsurface structure unveiled by Chang'E-4 Lunar Penetrating Radar |date=26 February 2020 |journal=Science Advances |volume=6 |issue=9 |pages=eaay6898 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aay6898 |pmid=32133404 |pmc=7043921 |bibcode=2020SciA....6.6898L |doi-access=free }}

CNSA launched Chang'e 6 on 3 May 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon.{{cite tweet |author=Andrew Jones |user= AJ_FI |number=1650832520978526208 |title=China's Chang'e-6 sample return mission (a first ever lunar far side sample-return) is scheduled to launch in May 2024, and expected to take 53 days from launch to return module touchdown. Targeting southern area of Apollo basin (~43º S, 154º W) |date=25 April 2023}} It was CNSA's second lunar sample return mission, the first achieved by Chang'e 5 from the lunar near side four years earlier.{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrew |url=https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-probe-arrives-at-spaceport-for-first-ever-lunar-far-side-sample-mission/ |title=China's Chang'e-6 probe arrives at spaceport for first-ever lunar far side sample mission |work=SpaceNews |date=10 January 2024 |access-date=10 January 2024}} It also carried a mini "Jinchan" rover to conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged the Chang'e 6's lander on the lunar surface.{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew |title=China's Chang'e-6 is carrying a surprise rover to the moon |url=https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-is-carrying-a-surprise-rover-to-the-moon/ |website=SpaceNews |access-date=8 May 2024 |date=6 May 2024 |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508193233/https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-is-carrying-a-surprise-rover-to-the-moon/ |url-status=live }} The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing on 1 June 2024 at 22:23 UTC. It landed on the Moon's surface on 1 June 2024.{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrew |url=https://spacenews.com/change-6-lands-on-far-side-of-the-moon-to-collect-unique-lunar-samples/ |title=Chang'e-6 lands on far side of the moon to collect unique lunar samples |work=SpaceNews |date=1 June 2024 |access-date=1 June 2024}}{{cite tweet | author= Seger Yu | user= SegerYu | number= 1797042217804337307 | title= 落月时刻 2024-06-02 06:23:15.861 | language= zh }} The ascender was launched back to lunar orbit on 3 June 2024 at 23:38 UTC, carrying samples collected by the lander, and later completed another robotic rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which landed in Inner Mongolia on 25 June 2024, completing China's far side sample return mission.{{cite web|url=https://spacenews.com/change-6-moon-samples-collected-and-launched-into-lunar-orbit/ |title=Chang’e-6: Moon samples collected and launched into lunar orbit |website=Space News |date=4 June 2024 |first=Andrew |last=Jones }}

The Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE-Night) lander, a mission to soft land as early as 2026 a robotic observatory on the far side designed to measure electromagnetic waves from the early history of the universe is being developed by NASA and the United States Department of Energy.{{cite web | url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-department-of-energy-join-forces-on-innovative-lunar-experiment | title=NASA, Department of Energy Join Forces on Innovative Lunar Experiment | date=6 March 2023 }}

{{clear}}

{{wide image |The first panorama from the far side of the moon.jpg|1000px|align-cap=center|The first panorama from the far side of the Moon taken by Chang'e 4}}

Because the far side of the Moon is shielded from radio transmissions from the Earth, it is considered a good location for placing radio telescopes for use by astronomers. Small, bowl-shaped craters provide a natural formation for a stationary telescope similar to Arecibo in Puerto Rico. For much larger-scale telescopes, the {{convert|100|km|mi|-1|adj=mid|sp=us|-diameter}} crater Daedalus is situated near the center of the far side, and the {{convert|3|km|mi|0|adj=mid|sp=us|-high}} rim would help to block stray communications from orbiting satellites. Another potential candidate for a radio telescope is the Saha crater.{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Stenger |title=Astronomers push for observatory on the moon |publisher=CNN |date=9 January 2002 |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/01/05/lunar.observatory/ |access-date=26 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325181457/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/01/05/lunar.observatory/ |archive-date=25 March 2007 }}

Before deploying radio telescopes to the far side, several problems must be overcome. The fine lunar dust can contaminate equipment, vehicles, and space suits. The conducting materials used for the radio dishes must also be carefully shielded against the effects of solar flares. Finally, the area around the telescopes must be protected against contamination by other radio sources.

The {{L2}} Lagrange point of the Earth–Moon system is located about {{convert|62800|km|mi|-2|abbr=on}} above the far side, which has also been proposed as a location for a future radio telescope which would perform a Lissajous orbit about the Lagrangian point.

One of the NASA missions to the Moon under study would send a sample-return lander to the South Pole–Aitken basin, the location of a major impact event that created a formation nearly {{convert|2400|km|mi|-2|abbr=on}} across. The force of this impact has created a deep penetration into the lunar surface, and a sample returned from this site could be analyzed for information concerning the interior of the Moon.{{cite journal |author1=M. B. Duke |author2=B. C. Clark |author3=T. Gamber |author4=P. G. Lucey |author5=G. Ryder |author6=G. J. Taylor | title=Sample Return Mission to the South Pole Aitken Basin | journal=Workshop on New Views of the Moon 2: Understanding the Moon Through the Integration of Diverse Datasets | date=1999 | page=11 | url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/moon99/pdf/8017.pdf }}

Because the near side is partly shielded from the solar wind by the Earth, the far side maria are expected to have the highest concentration of helium-3 on the surface of the Moon.{{cite news | title=Thar's Gold in Tham Lunar Hills | newspaper=Daily Record | date=28 January 2006 | url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16637160&method=full&headline=thar-s-gold-in-tham-lunar-hills--name_page.html | access-date=26 January 2007 }} This isotope is relatively rare on the Earth, but has good potential for use as a fuel in fusion reactors. Proponents of lunar settlement have cited the presence of this material as a reason for developing a Moon base.

{{cite news

|last = Schmitt

|first = Harrison

|title = Mining the Moon

|url = http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/1283056

|access-date = 7 October 2013

|magazine = Popular Mechanics

|date = 7 December 2004

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131015060502/http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/1283056

|archive-date = 15 October 2013

|url-status = live

}}

File:Craters of the Far Side of the Moon.jpg

{{Div col|colwidth=14em}}

• Aitken (crater)
• Amici (crater)
• Anuchin (crater)
• Apollo (crater)
• Avogadro (crater)
• Bel'kovich (crater)
• Belopol'skiy (crater)
• Bergstrand (crater)
• Berkner (crater)
• Birkhoff (crater)
• Bjerknes (lunar crater)
• Bok (lunar crater)
• Campbell (lunar crater)
• Cantor (crater)
• Carnot (crater)
• Cassegrain (crater)
• Chandler (crater)
• Chappell (crater)
• Chernyshev (crater)
• Comrie (crater)
• Coulomb-Sarton Basin
• Crookes (crater)
• d'Alembert (crater)
• Daedalus (crater)
• Davisson (crater)
• Debus (crater)
• Delporte (crater)
• Dyson (crater)
• Ellerman (crater)
• Emden (crater)
• Esnault-Pelterie (crater)
• Finsen (crater)
• Fleming (crater)
• Fowler (crater)
• Fridman (crater)
• Ganskiy (crater)
• Gerasimovich (crater)
• Gullstrand (crater)
• Hayn (crater)
• Hegu (crater)
• Hertzsprung (crater)
• H. G. Wells (crater)
• Hippocrates (lunar crater)
• Houzeau (crater)
• Icarus (crater)
• Ioffe (crater)
• Izsak (crater)
• Jenner (crater)
• Kamerlingh Onnes (crater)
• Kirkwood (crater)
• Klute (crater)
• Kolhörster (crater)
• Komarov (crater)
• Korolev (lunar crater)
• Kovalevskaya (crater)
• Krasovskiy (crater)
• Kugler (crater)
• Kulik (crater)
• Lamb (crater)
• Lacus Luxuriae
• Lacus Oblivionis
• Lander (crater)
• Langevin (crater)
• Lebedev (crater)
• Leibnitz (crater)
• Lucretius (crater)
• Lunar south pole
• Maksutov (crater)
• McKellar (crater)
• Mare Australe
• Mare Frigoris
• Mare Humboldtianum
• Mare Ingenii
• Mare Moscoviense
• Mare Orientale
• Mendeleev (crater)
• Michelson (crater)
• Montes Cordillera
• Montes Rook
• Mons Tai{{cite news |title=Chang'e-4's moon landing site named |url=http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0215/c90000-9546756.html |access-date=16 February 2019 |newspaper=China Daily |date=17 February 2019}}{{cite web |title=IAU Names Landing Site of Chinese Chang'e-4 Probe on Far Side of the Moon |url=https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1901/ |publisher=International Astronomical Union |date=15 February 2019}}
• Nicholson (lunar crater)
• Nishina (crater)
• Ohm (crater)
• Oppenheimer (crater)
• Oresme (crater)
• Pannekoek (crater)
• Paraskevopoulos (crater)
• Parenago (crater)
• Patsaev (crater)
• Perrine (crater)
• Pettit (lunar crater)
• Pirquet (crater)
• Pogson (crater)
• Priestley (lunar crater)
• Quetelet (crater)
• Rowland (crater)
• Sarton (crater)
• Schlesinger (crater)
• Shaler (crater)
• Shternberg (crater)
• Shuleykin (crater)
• Sikorsky (crater)
• Sniadecki (crater)
• Sommerfeld (crater)
• South Pole–Aitken basin
• Statio Tianhe (Chang'e 4 landing site)
• Stebbins (crater)
• Stoletov (crater)
• Sverdrup (crater)
• Tianjin (crater)
• Tikhov (lunar crater)
• Titov (crater)
• Tsander (crater)
• Tsinger (crater)
• Tsiolkovskiy (crater)
• Tyndall (lunar crater)
• Vallis Bouvard
• Vallis Inghirami
• van't Hoff (crater)
• Van de Graaff (crater)
• Van der Waals (crater)
• Vavilov (crater)
• Vertregt (crater)
• Virtanen (crater)
• Volkov (crater)
• Von Kármán (lunar crater)
• Von Neumann (crater)
• Von Zeipel (crater)
• Wan-Hoo (crater)
• Wiener (crater)
• Wright (lunar crater)
• Yamamoto (crater)
• Zhinyu (crater)

{{div col end}}

• Geology of the Moon
• Giant-impact hypothesis
• Near side of the Moon

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/ Lunar and Planetary Institute: Exploring the Moon]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120203002658/http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/02/nasa-probe-captures-1st-video-moons-far-side/ NASA takes first video of dark side of the Moon]
• [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/lunar_images/ Lunar and Planetary Institute: Lunar Atlases]
• [http://ralphaeschliman.com/id26.htm Ralph Aeschliman Planetary Cartography and Graphics: Lunar Maps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529090138/http://ralphaeschliman.com/id26.htm |date=29 May 2015 }}
• [https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/luna/moon_farsidemap.htm Full Moon Atlas: Lunar Far Side at lunarrepublic.com]
• [http://www.catchafallingstar.com//nwa482/nwa482ebay.htm Northwest Africa 482, only meteorite believed to have originated from the far side of the Moon]
• [http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Archive/Archive-Moon.html Moon articles in Planetary Science Research Discoveries]
• {{cite web|last=Merrifield|first=Michael|title=Far Side of the Moon|url=http://www.sixtysymbols.com/videos/far_side_moon.htm|work=Sixty Symbols|publisher=Brady Haran for the University of Nottingham}}
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=TlUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 LIFE magazine (Nov. 9, 1959) article about first photos.]

{{The Moon}}

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