There’s no real “dark side” of the moon, but the far side, which faces away from Earth, is different from the near side we see every day. Samples could reveal why.

Since it first hit the funny pages back in 1980, Gary Larson’s The Far Side flipped the whole comic strip game.

Chang’e-6, the first mission to bring back soil from the moon’s far side, collected 1.9 kilograms (4.2 pounds) of lunar soil via a robotic probe in June before returning to Earth, a scientific ...

The far side, on the other hand, is blanketed in more craters of various sizes and depths, including the enormous South Pole-Aitken basin.

The moon's far side is pockmarked by craters and has fewer of the near side's flat, dark plains carved by lava flows. Why the two halves are so different remains a mystery, said study co-author ...

The Chang'e-4 spacecraft became the first to visit the moon's far side in 2019. The moon’s far side is pockmarked by craters and has fewer of the near side’s flat, dark plains carved by lava ...

The age of the far side samples indicate that region of the moon had volcanic activity 4.2 billion years ago and 2.8 billion years ago—and during the period in between.

The far side of the moon—seen here, captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—could be much drier than expected. NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University ...

The far side material brought down from Chang’e 6 may provide some clues once scientists perform detailed chemical analyses. It’s funny: ...