The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide-angle camera captured approximately 1,300 images, combining them to magnificently depict the familiar near side of the moon. But why does a 'near side' of the moon exist?
The moon rotates and revolves about every 28 days, and since the periods of these two motions are the same, it always shows the same face to Earth. This condition is known as 'tidally locked', resulting in the near side visible from Earth always being the same.
This high-resolution mosaic image features a stunning detail of the smooth, dark lunar maria (actually impact basins formed by flowing lava) and rugged highlands, appearing familiar to those observing the moon from Earth. If you want to find the moon's maria or large craters, you can follow this link. The LRO images that make up this mosaic were captured over two weeks in December 2010.