Does the moon rotate?
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answers:
goring say: Yes as the moon spins its translational motion in space forms a cycloid.
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Ronald 7 say: The Moon rotates once during an Orbit
It is Gravitationally Locked to Earth
My friend and I always had an argument about it
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retired old sarge say: yes.. one rotation during the approx 24 earth hour cycle. Thats why it faces the same way when you look up at it..
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Clive say: Yes. That's why, as it orbits the Earth, we always see the same side. It rotates once in the same time as it takes to go round the Earth once. If you walk around something, you have to turn to keep facing it, don't you? Same thing.
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Jeffrey K say: Yes. It rotates once a month. This is the same time as its orbital period around earth.
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Sally say: yes it does
When I was in the third grade at a government school we had a toy that showed the sun stationary . When someone turned the crank Earth rotated around the sun and the moon rotated around Earth
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tham153 say: the Moon's rotational period of 27.32 Earth days is identical to its orbital period, a situation called synchronous, and also found in both moons of Mars, the 8 closest moons to Jupiter, 24 moons of Saturn, etc. Over long periods of time the planet's gravitational influence slows the rotation until it matches the orbital period.
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MARK say: Yes, the Moon does rotate on its axis.
You may have posed this question to ask why we only see one side of the Moon, which is called the far side, but all to frequently incorrectly called the dark side (both sides of the Moon do get sunlight). The time it takes for the Moon to rotate once on its axis is the same time it takes it to orbit the Earth. That is why we always see only one, and the same, side of the Moon.
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Anon say: It’s tidally locked hence why you always see one side.
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BJJ say: Yes it does , it rotates on its axis in the same time as it takes to orbit the earth that's why we only see the same side of the moon
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ThatOneNASCARFan say: Yesssssssirry
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NiJo say: What, ya think Floyd made up there's a dark side?
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spot a say: The moon rotates once in 27.32 days as it revolves once around the earth in 27.32 days. This results in the same side always facing towards the earth
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Tom S say: Yes.
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MysteryGuy say: Everything rotates around the centre of the solar system mass. including the sun.
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CarolOklaNola say: Yes, the moon DOES rotate. One time for every orbit around the Earth. Over time we see 59% of the Moon's surface because of libration , nutation and parallax effects. In plain English , the Moon wobbles a little bit. Yes, it does rotate. The Farside gets just as much sunlight as the Nearside.
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Lôn say: Yes, but at the same rate as it revolves around the earth. That is why we keep seeing the same side.
If it didn't rotate we'd see all of it as some point in its revolution around us.
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marty say: No it doesnt spin, everytime you see the moon you'll always see the same side.
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