Why Is Our Moon Two-Faced?

Visit https://brilliant.org/scishow/ to get started learning STEM for free. The first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription and a 30 day free trial. The near side of the Moon has a thin crust and is covered in maria. The far side has a thick crust and almost no maria. Scientists have spent the past six decades trying to figure out why these two halves are so different, and they've come up with some pretty nifty hypotheses in the process. Hosted by: Stefan Chin (he/him) ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Matt Curls, Alisa Sherbow, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, Harrison Mills, Adam Brainard, Chris Peters, charles george, Piya Shedden, Alex Hackman, Christopher R, Boucher, Jeffrey Mckishen, Ash, Silas Emrys, Eric Jensen, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow, Tom Mosner, Tomás Lagos González, Jacob, Christoph Schwanke, Sam Lutfi, Bryan Cloer ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? SciShow Tangents Podcast: https://scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishowFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow #SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly ---------- Sources: https://www.britannica.com/science/mare-lunar-feature https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/moon-far-side/ https://hal.science/hal-02458514/document https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=70117035856f362a55fd592b49e6d35b8fe2c3f9 https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium.aspx https://www.space.com/moon-far-side-mystery-may-be-solved.html https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/mantle https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2000JE001441 https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/55-year-old-dark-side-moon-mystery-solved/ https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2041-8205/788/2/L42 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10289 https://www.space.com/where-are-nasa-apollo-moon-rocks.html https://www.science.org/content/article/did-slo-mo-crash-create-two-sided-moon https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/lunar-maria Martin Jutzi correspondence Jason Wright correspondence Image Sources https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/full-moon-close-up-stock-footage/599928584?phrase=moon%20in%20sky&adppopup=true https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2460/lunar-near-side/?category=moons_earths-moon https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2459/lunar-far-side/?category=moons_earths-moon https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_Thorium_concentrations.jpg https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/usgs-releases-first-ever-comprehensive-geologic-map-moon https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2509/moon-phase-and-libration-2020/?category=moons_earths-moon https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/52548765436/in/album-72177720303788800/ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS16-M-3021 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/lunar-origins-simulations https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/moon-surface-stock-footage/1148221526?phrase=moon&adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_Lunar_Sample_60015.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWCCNYJV3Zw