Ask Ethan: Is there really a "dark side" of the Moon?

"The Moon, visible during at least some portion of the night except during the once-per-month "new moon" phase, always shows its same face to us: the face of its near side. The opposite side of the Moon - the far side - surely must have existed, but because we're stuck here on Earth and the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth, we've never been able to view it."

""Of course, there is no literal "Dark Side of the Moon". There's a side that faces permanently away from the Earth, but no side that faces permanently away from the Sun. "Dark Side" is a metaphorical way of saying Unknown Side... Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel might get a kick out of this. He's probably dealt with the same misconception himself, and can probably answer the question of whether or not anybody still calls it the dark side.""

For most of human history the far side of the Moon remained unseen from Earth because the same lunar hemisphere always faces our planet. The Moon is visible during much of the night except near the monthly new moon. The far side exists opposite the near side and could not be viewed from Earth. The phrase "dark side of the Moon" became a poetic label and appears in popular culture, including songs by Pink Floyd and Disney's Mulan. The term originally meant the far side, but that far side is only slightly darker. A distinction exists between an unseen far side and a surface that never receives sunlight.

Read at Big Think