Full Exposure: NASA Looks at Dark Side of Moon

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

The proverbial ‘man in the moon’ has been seeing his name in the papers a lot recently; from politicians looking to construct a moon colony, to NASA’s plans to image his dark side. Humans have long contemplated this lunar body — art and ancient texts tell us as much. We’ve even expanded that curiosity towards other planets’ moons by naming them. Our human preoccupation with naming doesn’t end there. Did you know that every full moon has a name? This evening, February 7 at 4:54 PM EST, the ‘Full Snow Moon’ (or ‘Full Hunger Moon’) will elicit some ooohs and ahhhs across North America. However, tonight you’ll only be seeing one side of the mysterious sphere. The moon has a dark side (metaphorically) that no one sees, but NASA thinks it’s worth uncovering, and wants schoolchildren to help: Read more.