Hidden Moon

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter compiled this image of the far side of the Moon, which is perpetually hidden from Earth. The far side features more impact craters than the familiar nearside but fewer dark volcanic plains. That may be because the crust on the far side is much thicker than the near side crust, which prevented large asteroids from puncturing the crust and releasing molten rock. The largest farside feature is the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is a dark gray circular patch at the bottom of the lunar disk in this image. [NASA/GSFC/Univ. Arizona]