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/total eclipses on the Moon Partial/total eclipses on the Moon Partial/total Solar eclipses on the Moon are caused when the Earth passes in front of the Sun, blocking a part its light in one part and the whole light in the other. Viewers on Earth will see a partial 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. The next partial-total solar eclipse on the Moon will be partial-total on August 7, 2017 with the southern portion of the Southern Hemisphere seeing totality. Seen