Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a

lunar mare The lunar maria (; singular: mare ) are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient asteroid impacts on the far side on the Moon that triggered volcanic activity on the opposite (near) side. They were dubbed , Latin for 'seas' ...

located to the east of

Mare Imbrium Mare Imbrium (Latin ''imbrium'', the "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", "Sea of Tears") is a vast lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the colli ...

on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. Its diameter is .

Geology

Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the

Nectarian The Nectarian Period of the lunar geologic timescale runs from 3920 million years ago to 3850 million years ago. It is the period during which the Nectaris Basin and other major basins were formed by large impact events. Ejecta from Nectaris fo ...

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided ...

. The material surrounding the mare is of the Lower Imbrian epoch, while the mare material is of the

Upper Imbrian The Imbrian is a lunar geologic period divided into two epochs, the Early and Late. Early Imbrian In the lunar geologic timescale, the Early Imbrian epoch occurred from 3,850 million years ago to about 3,800 million years ago. It overlaps the end ...

epoch. The mare

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

covers a majority of the basin and overflows into

Lacus Somniorum Lacus Somniorum ( Latin ''somniōrum'', "Lake of Dreams") is a basaltic plain located in the northeastern part of the Moon's near side. It is located at selenographic coordinates 37.56° N, 30.8° E, and has a diameter of 424.76 kilometers. The ...

to the northeast. The most noticeable feature is the crater

Posidonius Posidonius (; grc-gre, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher nativ ...

on the northeast rim of the mare. The ring feature to the west of the mare is indistinct, except for

Montes Haemus Montes Haemus is a mountain range that forms the southwestern edge of the Mare Serenitatis basin on the Moon. They form a less prominent mirror image of the Montes Apenninus range to the west, and curve up to nearly join at the northern end. ...

. Mare Serenitatis connects with

Mare Tranquillitatis Mare Tranquillitatis (Latin ''tranquillitātis'', the Sea of Tranquillity or Sea of Tranquility; see spelling differences) is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. It is the first location on another world to be ...

to the southeast and borders Mare Vaporum to the southwest. Mare Serenitatis is an example of a mascon, an anomalous gravitational region on the moon. A mass concentration (mascon), or gravitational high, was identified in the center of Mare Serenitatis from Doppler tracking of the five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1968. The mascon was confirmed and mapped at higher resolution with later orbiters such as

Lunar Prospector ''Lunar Prospector'' was the third mission selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon ...

and

GRAIL The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

. File:Serenitatis basin topo.jpg, Topographic map File:Serenitatis basin GRAIL gravity.jpg, Gravity map based on

Names

Like most of the other maria on the Moon, Mare Serenitatis was named by Giovanni Riccioli, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized. Previously, William Gilbert had cited it as within the Regio Magna Occidentalis ("Large Western Region") in his map of ''c''.1600.

Pierre Gassendi Pierre Gassendi (; also Pierre Gassend, Petrus Gassendi; 22 January 1592 – 24 October 1655) was a French philosopher, Catholic priest, astronomer, and mathematician. While he held a church position in south-east France, he also spent much t ...

had included it as part of the 'Homuncio' ('little man'), referring to a small humanoid figure that he could see among the maria; Gassendi also referred to it as 'Thersite' after

Thersites In Greek mythology, Thersites (; Ancient Greek: Θερσίτης) was a soldier of the Greek army during the Trojan War. Family The ''Iliad'' does not mention his father's name, which may suggest that he should be viewed as a commoner rathe ...

, the ugliest warrior in the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

. Michael Van Langren had labelled it the Mare Eugenianum ("Eugenia's Sea") in his 1645 map, in honour of

Isabella Clara Eugenia Isabella Clara Eugenia ( es, link=no, Isabel Clara Eugenia; 12 August 1566 – 1 December 1633), sometimes referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia, was sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and the north of modern France with ...

, queen of the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands ( Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the ...

. And

Johannes Hevelius Johannes Hevelius Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish: * * * * * * * Some sources refer to Hevelius as German: * * * * *of the Royal Society * (in German also known as ''Hevel''; pl, Jan Heweliusz; – 28 January 1687) was a councillor ...

included it within Pontus Euxinus (after the classical name for the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

) in his 1647 map.

Exploration

Both Luna 21 and

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walke ...

landed near the eastern border of Mare Serenitatis, in the area of the Montes Taurus range. Apollo 17 landed specifically in the Taurus-Littrow valley, and Luna 21 landed in Le Monnier crater. SpaceIL's '' Beresheet'' lunar lander was planned to land in Mare Serenitatis, but crashed into the surface on 11 April 2019. Its final resting place was about 33°N, 19°E, near to the centre of the

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...

Views

Image:Mare Serenetatis AS17-M-0940-0947-0954.jpg, These are three views of Mare Serenitatis, taken by the mapping camera of the

mission in 1972, facing north-northeast from an average altitude of 107 km. At the right is the east margin of Mare Serenitatis, with the 95 km diameter crater

at the central horizon, the basalt-flooded Le Monnier crater to the south, the mare ridge (or

wrinkle ridge A wrinkle ridge is a type of feature commonly found on lunar maria, or basalt plains. These features are low, sinuous ridges formed on the mare surface that can extend for up to several hundred kilometers. Wrinkle ridges are tectonic features c ...

) Dorsa Aldrovandi at center, Littrow crater at the right, and the landing site of Apollo 17 in the lower right corner in the Taurus–Littrow valley. In the center is the relatively small crater Bessel (16 km), and two prominent rays probably from the Tycho impact far to the south. At the left is the western margin of the mare, with the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

at the central horizon, the

Apennine Mountains The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

at left, and the Sulpicius Gallus Rilles at the lower right. The sun elevation drops from 24 degrees at right to 5 degrees at left as the Command Module ''America'' orbited the moon. Image:Mare Serenitatis AS17-150-23069.jpg, Some of the strongest tonal, color, and structural contrasts among mare materials occur in Mare Serenitatis. This color Apollo 17 image shows that the dark materials were emplaced before the lighter materials near the top.

In popular culture

*Mare Serenitatis forms one of the eyes for the

Man in the Moon In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar ma ...

. *In the animation ''

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal ''Sailor Moon Crystal'', known in Japan as , is a 2014 original net animation adaptation of the ''shōjo'' manga series ''Sailor Moon'' written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi, produced in commemoration of the original series' 20th annive ...

'', Mare Serenitatis is the location of Silver Millennium and the original Moon Castle. *Mare Serenitatis is also mentioned in

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

's short story The Sentinel. *Most of the action in

John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names ...

's 1933 short story "The Last Lunarians" takes place on the edge of the Sea of Serenity. *Mare Serentitatis borders the Authority moon colony in Robert Heinlein's novel '' The Moon is a Harsh Mistress''. *The most southern part of Mare Serenitatis is depicted on the cover of the album ''Apollo - Atmospheres and Soundtracks'' by Brian Eno, Roger Eno, and Daniel Lanois (1982). The photograph on the cover is AS17-150-23069, made during the mission of

in December 1972. *"Mare Serenitatis" is the name of a Frigate-type spaceship playable in Infinite Lagrange, a game developed and published by NetEase Games.

References

External links

Mare Serenitatis at The Moon Wiki
* * * * {{Lunar maria Serenitatis Serenitatis Serenitatis