Man in the Moon then cooled, becoming smooth, basalt rock. The near side of the Moon, containing these maria that make up the man, is always facing Earth. This is due to a tidal locking or synchronous orbit. Thought to have occurred because of the gravitational forces partially caused by the Moon's oblong shape, its rotation has slowed to the point where it rotates exactly once on each trip around the Earth. This causes the near side of the Moon to always turn its face toward Earth. Man in the Moon The Man in the Moon refers to any of several pareidolic images of
Partial eclipses on the Moon Partial eclipses on the Moon Partial solar eclipses on the Moon are caused when the Earth passes nearly in front of the Sun, blocking a part of its light. Viewers on Earth will see a penumbral lunar eclipse. During its eclipses, the Earth will be in new phase, completely dark, except for moonshine and sunlight refracted through the earth's atmosphere, visible as a ring of light. Unlike the Earth's which shows slightly darker shadows at 50% obscuration and mostly dark at over 75% obscuration, the Moon's penumbral shadow on the surface shows light yellow at the start and the end