Lacus Felicitatis (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''fēlīcitātis'', "Lake of Happiness")
is a small patch of the
lunar
Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon".
Lunar may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games
* "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta
* "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...
surface that has been inundated by flows of
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
, leaving a level patch with a lower
albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of sunlight, solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body ...
than the surrounding ground. It is located in
Terra Nivium
Terra Nivium (Latin for "Land of Snows") is a roughly triangular highland region on the Moon. In his ''Almagestum novum'', the notable selenographer Giovanni Riccioli named the various highland regions terrae. However, unlike his naming scheme for ...
, an area of continental ground to the north of the
Mare Vaporum
Mare Vaporum (Latin ''vapōrum'', the "sea of vapors") is a lunar mare located between the southwest rim of Mare Serenitatis and the southeast rim of Mare Imbrium. It was named by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1651.''Autostar Suite Astronomer ...
. About 70–80 km to the northeast of this area are the
Montes Haemus, along the southwestern edge of the
Mare Serenitatis
Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is .
Geology
Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian ep ...
.
The
selenographic coordinate
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sign ...
s of the centre of Lacus Felicitatis are 18.5° N, 5.4° E, and it has a maximum extent of 98 km.
[ In outline it has a bent shape, with a wing to the northwest and another to the east. The border is somewhat uneven, and it is surrounded by rugged lunar surface.
Three tiny craters within this formation have been assigned names by the ]IAU
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...
. These are listed below.
Ina is a semi-circular depression that is only about 30 m deep and is difficult to image from the Earth.
In November 2006, it was suggested that Ina was the result of a gas eruption in the last 10 million years.[Schultz, Peter H., Matthew I. Staid & Carlé M. Pieters, Lunar activity from recent gas release, Nature 444, 184-186 (9 November 2006) ]
Abstract
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See also
*Volcanism on the Moon
Volcanism on the Moon is represented by the presence of volcanoes, pyroclastic deposits and vast lava plains on the lunar surface. The volcanoes are typically in the form of small domes and cones that form large volcanic complexes and isolated edi ...
References
External links
Ina
*
*
Felicitatis, Lacus
{{Craters on the Moon: C-F