The Moon Always Shows Earth the Same Face

Everyone on Earth sees the same side of the Moon. NASA explains why: the Moon is rotating at the same rate that it revolves around Earth, which is called synchronous rotation, so the same hemisphere faces Earth all the time. The Moon makes a complete orbit around Earth in 27 Earth days and spins once in that same amount of time. NASA describes the Earth and Moon as tidally locked. This does not mean the Moon stands still, only that its spin and its orbit are matched. NASA’s page also shows how harsh the surface is. The temperature reaches about 260 degrees Fahrenheit in full Sun and plummets to about minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit in darkness, and the Moon has only a very thin atmosphere called an exosphere.