Topography of the Moon - Moon Craters and Seas

This is a list of ''

maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

'' (large, dark,

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 ...

ic plains) 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 ...

. It includes other basaltic plains, including the one ''oceanus'' as well as features known by the names ''lacus'', ''palus'' and ''sinus''. The modern system of lunar nomenclature was introduced in 1651 by

Giovanni Battista Riccioli Giovanni Battista Riccioli, SJ (17 April 1598 – 25 June 1671) was an Italian astronomer and a Catholic priest in the Jesuit order. He is known, among other things, for his experiments with pendulums and with falling bodies, for his discussion ...

. Riccioli's map of the Moon was drawn by Francesco Maria Grimaldi, who has a crater named after him.

Maria and Oceanus

There was also a region on the Lunar farside that was briefly misidentified as a mare and named Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire). It is no longer recognized. Other former maria include: * Mare Parvum ("Small Sea"), immediately to the east of Inghirami * Mare Incognitum ("Unknown Sea") *

Mare Novum 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 four y ...

("New Sea"), northeast of

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

* Mare Struve (" Struve's Sea"), near Messala

Lacus

A related set of features are the Lunar ''lacus'' (singular also ''lacus'', Latin for "

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

"), which are smaller basaltic plains of similar origin:

Sinus and Paludes

A related set of features are the ''sinus'' (singular ''sinus'', Latin for "bay")As with 'lacus', Latin sg. ''sinus'' and plural ''sinūs'' are spelled and pronounced the same in English and ''paludes'' (singular ''palus'' , Latin ''palūs, palūdēs'' "marsh"): Some sources also list a Palus Nebularum (

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 ...

''palūs nebulārum'' "Marsh of Mists") at 38.0° N, 1.0° E. However the designation for this feature has not been officially recognized 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 ...

References

* L. E. Andersson and Ewen A. Whitaker, ''NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature'',

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

RP-1097, 1982, no ISBN. * Ben Bussey and

Paul Spudis Paul D. Spudis (1952–2018) was an American geologist and lunar scientist. His specialty was the study of volcanism and impact processes on the planets, including Mercury and Mars. Spudis was well known as a leading advocate of a return to ...

, ''The Clementine Atlas of the Moon'', Cambridge University Press, 2004, . *

Antonín Rükl Antonín Rükl (September 22, 1932 – July 12, 2016) was a Czech astronomer, cartographer, and author. He was born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia. As a student he developed what was to be a lifelong interest in astronomy. He graduated from the Cze ...

, ''Atlas of the Moon'', Kalmbach Books,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, . * Ewen A. Whitaker, ''Mapping and Naming the Moon'', Cambridge University Press,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, .

External links

NASA lunar Atlas

Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria on the moon Moon-related lists

Maria and Oceanus

Lacus

Sinus and Paludes

See also

References

External links