The Moon rotates once on its axis every 27.3 days.This is the same amount of time that the Moon takes to orbit the Earth. Therefore, we only ever see one side of the Moon from Earth. The side that we don’t see is known as the ‘far side’.
The following activity demonstrates that we always see the same side of the Moon. The students role-play the Moon revolving around the Earth (represented by a chair or student) while rotating once at the same time. Students should know the difference between the words rotation and revolution before doing the activity.
What you need
- Download student activity (menu at right)
- Chair
Image: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/20dec_christmaseve.htm