I had to explain to a co-worker today, that the far side of the moon and the shadow side is not the same thing. I'm amazed how uninformed some people are.
this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026
433 points (99.3% liked)
Science Memes
19830 readers
2869 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Wait a second...
In theory we'd have an XK class event pretty much monthly
It's only the far side from Earth.
They even did call it the far side, not the dark side.
Because the dark side of the moon is in fact not dark most of the time.
Because the dark side of the moon is in fact not dark most of the time.
Exactly half of the time right?
Ironically, the dark side of the moon is lit a bit more than the light side. Dark side is gonna be almost exactly half of the time, light side is a bit less because it's the side facing the sun during lunar eclipses.
Same argument for the dark side of the moon getting more light than the earth because of solar eclipses (if we're comparing % light coverage, not total photons).
Other explained this in more detail, but TLDR:
The moon waxes and wanes from earth's perspective throughout the month, yet half the moon is always facing the sun. Just being tidally locked doesn't mean it doesn't get sun.
As someone else said:
Dark Side ≠ Far Side
Actually it does, which is often the cause of the misconception. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_side_of_the_Moon
So the correct expression would be: Far side / Dark side ≠ Shadow side.
Yeah, it makes a lot more sense when you consider that the far side has to be lit during an eclipse.
Solar eclipse. The near side is blocked from being lit in a lunar eclipse
Certainly not Earth so maybe Pluto?
I guess she never thought about how moon cycles work.
But also, one could've probably told her that the reason it was light was because they went up there during the day (which is technically true from the perspective of the moon).
One thing I hadn't really thought of before was the reason as to why one side of the moon is always facing earth, aka tidal locking, so that was a fun read.
The headlights of the spaceship of course
So they have the same kind of headlights that brodozers have, gotcha
You're ill-informed!
Ooh I recognize that twitter account. "Ill-informed" is an understatement.
Highly recommend the book “Doppelganger” by Naomi Klein where she talks about how weird it is to get confused with Naomi Wolf. A real feminist vs a playactor, just like how the right playacts science and reason by ‘doing their own research’ and playacts working class solidarity by showering the public with populist propaganda while shredding their legal protections
Great book.
I wonder if people living in Belfast in the 1970s would have described it as calm, still, peaceful, restful or natural.
For people like that "peaceful" means "no brown people".
Makes me think the account is satire, knowing nothing else about it outside this thread
Genuinely curious how she's a doctor.
You don't have to be smart to be a doctor. Hell you don't even have to be well educated in any meaningful sense.
You just have to either have enough time, money or dedication to one hyper niche field to get a piece of paper that says your a doctor.
It's both harder then you would think and easier then you would think.
Iv met and worked with so many people that have a doctorate that barely have a passable high school understanding of the world around them or anything at all out side of their doctorate. That I would genuinely trust a middle schooler from Mississippi more then them with just about fucking anything.
A doctorate should never be taken at face value of someone's intelligence.
Exactly. Not an advanced degree, but my HS valedictorian was one of the dumbest people I've ever met. But she spent hours every day memorizing information she didn't understand just to be able to regurgitate it on the test.
Our salutatorian should have been first, but he was actually smart and didn't try very hard.
She's has a doctorate in philosophy.
Jesus fuck. I was born and raised in Belfast, there's absolutely nothing about the experience today (out in 2019) that even remotely resembles the 70's.
also the 1970s weren't some magical time for living a naturalist/naturist life. in the northern empires, lead based paint and lead based fuels were in common use. in the global south, genocidal dictators carried out brutal violence to impress whichever northern empire they were affiliated with.
the fact that she wants to revisit the 1970s speaks to a great degree of access to privilege within capitalism, white supremacy, and even the patriarchy despite her presented gender.
As another example, the Cuyahoga River famously caught fire in 1969. That isn't technically the 70s, but I wouldn't have gone near it anytime during that decade.
The cuyahoga was only just declared safe to swim in last year. the bill that led to its eventual cleaning was passed in 1972. it was probably at its absolute nastiest in September of 1972.
Exhibit n we're giving out doctorate degrees like candy.
A STEM PhD should be able to read and write at a high level and an PhD in English should have a modicum of knowledge of the world that surrounds us. This type of communication shenanigans only strengthens the current zeitgeist of anti-intellectualism IMHO.
note: That is assuming this isn't a satire account, which it very likely is, I refuse to believe this level of stupidity hasn't been selected against.
Unfortunately it's very real. The author Naomi Klein has a great book about Naomi Wolf called Doppelganger, based on the fact that people keep getting the two of them confused. Her descent into the right-wing conspiracy world is quite a thing.
Quite funny to see someone call Belfast calm and peaceful though. I'm in it quite regularly and usually just want to get out as soon as I can.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Yeah but they have 4G! THAT IS STRAIGHT POISON!
No no no, 3G was deadly up and until 4G came, then 4G was deadly until 5G came around.
load more comments
(2 replies)
You're an ill-informed English major. You instructed me to call you that, so I did.
The light source for this image is the Sun.
"The dark side of the moon" is a phrase that seems to have a strange effect on people; they seem to use that phrase to incorrectly mean the far side of the moon, and then that puts the idea in their heads that the far side is always dark. It isn't; the far side is fixed, the dark side is constantly changing.
The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, this means the moon's rotational speed and its orbital period are the same, the moon rotates once on its axis for every one orbit of the Earth it performs, meaning it doesn't (significantly) rotate when seen from Earth. No human saw the far side of the moon until the Soviets flew a satellite around it, and only 27 men and 1 woman have ever seen it with their own eyes. Until this week, those numbers were 24 and 0.
It is hidden from us but not from the Sun; we observe the Earth waxing and waning, being full and then half a month later being new. When the moon is new, the near side is in darkness and the far side is in light. On the Lunar surface, a day and night takes an entire month, while the continents and oceans of the Earth hanging still in space overhead whirl past nearly 30 times.
Finally...the image above isn't the whole far side. About half of the near side is visible; the big dark patch to the right is the Ocean of Storms, most of the Sea of Rain is visible as well. Kepler and Copernicus crater are visible, Tycho is just out of shot, if you look closely you can just barely see one of Tycho's rays across the Sea of Clouds. That one very dark patch just right of center is Grimaldi crater. All those features are visible from the Earth, in fact two of the Apollo landing sites are visible here, 12 and 14. The very large carter, the dark patch to the left of center of the image is Mare Orientale, which is just barely visible on the edge of the Moon from Earth, from our point of view it's on the "side". It's eastern ridge is visible from Earth but we don't really see the dark mare itself.
load more comments
(11 replies)
view more: next ›