The idea that the "other side" of the moon is always dark is a common misconception.

Here's the truth:

* The moon rotates. It takes about 27.3 days for the moon to complete one rotation on its axis.

* The moon's rotation and orbit are synchronized. This means it takes the same amount of time for the moon to rotate once as it does to orbit the Earth once.

* This synchronization means the same side of the moon always faces the Earth.

However, both sides of the moon experience periods of sunlight and darkness. The "dark side" of the moon simply refers to the hemisphere that isn't visible to us from Earth. It receives just as much sunlight as the side we see.

The only time the moon is truly dark is during a solar eclipse, when the Earth blocks the sun's light from reaching the moon.