Our Moon May Have Been Hit By a Dwarf Planet Long Ago

New research might explain why the far side of the moon looks so different from the other side.

By Korey Haynes
May 21, 2019 9:39 PMFeb 24, 2020 3:27 AM
Moon Farside via LRO - NASA
The moon’s far side, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

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The familiar lunar vista humans see when they look up at night reveals a face with dark “seas” and bright craters. The mysterious far side, which wasn’t revealed until humans started sending probes and then people in the 1960s, is far more heavily cratered, with few of the dark plains of the near side.

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