Although it is true that we always see the same side of our celestial neighbour, this does not mean that only one of its sides is lit up by the Sun! The Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, meaning that one day on the Moon is as long as the time it takes for the Moon to complete one orbit around the Earth! Because of this, the perception that only one side of the Moon receives sunlight followed suit, but this is not the case!

Indeed, when the Moon is in its “New Moon” phase, the farther side of the Moon is actually completely lit by sunlight, while the side of the Moon facing Earth is completely in darkness. When the Moon is in its “Quarter Moon” phase, half of the Earth-facing side is lit by sunlight and half of the farther side is also lit up by sunlight. It is only at the “Full Moon” phase that the side of the Moon facing Earth is completely lit up by sunlight, while the farther side of the Moon is in complete darkness. Hence, the nearer and farther sides of the Moon are equally bathed in sunlight during the course of the Moon’s approximate 27.3- day orbit around the Earth, and there really is no dark side of the Moon!