IT and Science: Most detailed photo of the far side of the moon released

A powerful NASA probe has created the most detailed view yet of the far side of the moon. The photo is actually a mosaic of thousands of different lunar far side images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The photo is available in high resolution with a brief description at Space.com.

The new image’s resolution is not the maximum – some areas of the lunar surface were photographed in more detail in the past. However the new picture provides the most complete look at the history and composition of the moon's far side to date, and should serve as a valuable resource for the scientific community, researchers said. Several photographs were made by LRO’s Wide Angle Camera.

Tidal forces between the moon and Earth have affected the moon's rotation such that the satellite now only presents one side of itself to us, which scientists call the near side.

The "far side" remained hidden from human eyes until 1959, when the Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft first snapped photos of it, while the crew of Apollo 8 which travelled to the moon saw it with their own eyes. Since then, scientists have learned that the far side of the moon is a very different place than the near side. Widespread basaltic plains called "maria”, deposited by volcanic activity long ago, cover much of the near side. But basaltic volcanism was much more limited on the far side, and as a result the region has just a few isolated maria, researchers said.