What’s the alternative? The side of the moon we can’t see? The ‘Other’ side of the moon?
The dark side of the moon is still called the dark side of the moon because the name remains descriptive and apt.
The "dark side" of the Moon was never, ever, descriptive and apt. Ever since the first telescopic observations of the Moon around 1610, if not earlier, it has been known that one side of the Moon always faces the Earth and the other side of the Moon always faces away from the Earth. And it has also been known that the Moon orbits the Earth once a month. Thus every single point on the surface of the Moon is in sunlight for about half a month and then in darkness for about half a month. That applies equally to every point on the hemisphere that faces away from the Earth. Two weeks of light followed by two weeks of darkness.
For four hundred years - and possibly for much longer - it has been known that there is no light side and no dark side to the Moon. Just a near side and a far side.
I don't remember for certain, but I think that it is quite possible that Kepler's
Somnium ("The Dream") written in 1608 and published in 1634, accurately explained the differences between the near side and the far side and the day/night cycle on the Moon. It does describe Subvolva (the near side) and Privolva (the far side).
Of course it was figuratively true that since nothing was known about the appearance of the far side it was a figurative "dark" side to people on Earth. Just as most of Africa was unknown to Europeans and called "Darkest Africa" and the "Dark Continent" until mapped in the 19th century. When the far side of the Moon was photographed and mapped during the space age, it no longer was the figurative "dark side". So there is no reason to speak of the "dark side" of the moon any longer.
STEPhon IT said:
What about Super Earths? Would there be life forms tall enough to habit the planet? Would those planets have more or less of what's on our Earth?
The scary thought I have, if there are Super Earth's out there; could there be Super Jupiters as well???
As a matter of fact astronomers do use the term "super earths". Since super earths would mostly have higher surface gravity than Earth, lifeforms on them would tend to be shorter to cope with the extra gravity, on the average.
Why should super Jupiters be scary? What is frightening about huge planets?
Planets a little more massive than Jupiter would be a little larger, but then as planets got more massive than that their greater gravity would compress them more and more and their diameters would tend to shrink, so Jupiter has almost as large a diameter as any planet can have.
According to calculations the borderline mass between planets and brown dwarfs should be about 13 times the mass of Jupiter, and the borderline mass between brown dwarfs and stars should be about 75 to 80 times the mass of Jupiter.
