6/12: Earth and Moon relationship

[russotto]

Originally posted by zeolite
"Turns out that the dark side is illuminated by the Earth, reflecting the sun's rays. "

I don't get it.

Isn't the dark side of the Moon the side facing away from us. At all times. The rotation of the Earth and the orbit of the Moon are synchronous so the dark side should never see any reflected light from Earth. Or is the dark side just reflecting the sun? I'm not sure how you read any data about Earth from studying the dark side of the Moon.

The dark side of the moon is the side facing away from the sun. The far side of the moon is the side facing away from us.