The moon is tidally locked with the Earth, which means the same side always faces the Earth. So, for example, when the moon is between the Earth and the sun, the far side (from the perspective of Earth) would be fully illuminated by the sun.

The “far side” of the moon refers to the hemisphere that can’t be seen from Earth.

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dust42 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes, and right now is full moon, thus the far side is only illuminated by stars.

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_moof 36 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

It isn't full right now. It's a waning gibbous, so the far side is a waxing crescent.

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layer8 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

And a little bit by asteroids like 20 Massalia and comets like 24P/Schaumasse.

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davidw 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I wonder why they decided on that timing? If it were better illuminated by the sun, couldn't they get some better photography?

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ranger207 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They want to fly by at lunar sunrise as the shadows help see depth better. Also, they have very sensitive cameras (up to 3,280,000 ISO!); the Earth photo the other day was taken at night, so you can see how they'll be able to get detail even in the dark parts

	▲	smilespray 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		640 ISO ought to be enough for anyone.

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brabel 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My guess is that this mission is not about imaging the far side of the Moon at all as that has been done already.

	▲	davidw 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Fair, but these images are going to get a lot of public attention, so making them good ones would be worthwhile.

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NooneAtAll3 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

current 2nd stage is underpowered, so it has to be compensated by 1st stage right from the start

and since launchpad is in the north hemisphere, Moon has to be at the south part of its orbit

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5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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