April 28, 2022
The Moon consists of very old bright white and grey areas called the lunar highlands, and younger flat dark areas called maria. The maria are ancient impact craters that filled with lava. The lava cooled to form a dark volcanic rock called basalt. The side of the Moon we see (near side), is covered with maria. However, the side of the moon that never faces earth (far side), has very few maria and is made mostly of the lunar highlands.
The near side of the Moon (left) features both lunar highlands and many flat maria. However, the far side (right) primarily consists of lunar highlands with only very few maria. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
