Near side of the Moon Near side of the Moon The near side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that is permanently turned towards Earth, whereas the opposite side is the far side. Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth – a situation known as synchronous rotation, or tidal locking. The Moon is directly illuminated by the Sun, and the cyclically varying viewing conditions cause the lunar phases. Sometimes the dark portion of the Moon is faintly visible due to earthshine, which is indirect
Sun and Moon (Middle-earth) Sun and Moon (Middle-earth) The fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien of Middle-earth fame included Earth's sun and moon for the cosmology of his myths of Arda. These astronomical bodies appear in various versions of "The Silmarillion", a history of a world, called Middle-earth populated by Elves and other fantastic creatures as well as Men. A version of "The Silmarillion", edited by the author's son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien, was posthumously published in 1977. However the Sun and Moon already appear in the author's writings dating from the 1920s. The sun and moon in Tolkien's legendarium were described in