|
Lunar history 月球的历史 EARTHS moon has a split personality. One half of its surfacethe half which, thanks to thevagaries of orbital mechanics, always faces Earthis dominated by dark, smooth expanses ofancient, frozen lava known as maria . The contrast between the darkness of themaria and the brightness of the surrounding highlands forms a pattern popularly known,depending on the culture of the observer, as the man in the moon, the rabbit on the moon orone of many other optical illusions. 地球的卫星---月球有着分裂的人格。其表面的一半 ---由于轨道力学的变幻莫测，这一半总是面对地球---一直处于黑暗之中。这片黑暗的地方被称为月海，不仅平坦广阔，而且由古老而冻结的火山岩形成。根据观察者不同的文化，月海的黑暗和周围群山的明亮对比形成了一种众所周知的模式，比如嫦娥，月兔或许多其它视错觉之一。 When astronomers got their first glimpses of the moons far side, however, they saw astrikingly different landscape. Early lunar probes revealed a surface that was mountainous,rugged, heavily cratered and virtually devoid of maria. To quote Bill Anders, one of theastronauts on Apollo 8 and thus one of the first three people to see the far side of the moondirectly, it looks like a sand pile my kids have been playing in...all beat up, no definition, just alot of bumps and holes. | 
