Promontorium Heraclides is a raised mountainous cape situated in

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 near side of 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

selenographic coordinates The selenographic coordinate system is used to refer to locations on the surface of Earth's moon. Any position on the lunar surface can be referenced by specifying two numerical values, which are comparable to the latitude and longitude of Earth. ...

are 40.3° N, 33.2° W and it is 50 km in diameter. It marks the western edge of the bay of

Sinus Iridum Sinus Iridum (Latin ''sinus īridum'' "Bay of Rainbows") is a plain of basaltic lava that forms a northwestern extension to the Mare Imbrium on Earth's moon. It is surrounded from the northeast to the southwest by the Montes Jura range. The pro ...

. Promontorium Heraclides is named after

Heraclides Ponticus Heraclides Ponticus ( grc-gre, Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικός ''Herakleides''; c. 390 BC – c. 310 BC) was a Greek philosopher and astronomer who was born in Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey, and migrated to Athens. He ...

, a Greek philosopher and astronomer. The Soviet lunar probe

Luna 17 ''LOK Luna 17'' (Ye-8 series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called ''Lunik 17''. It deployed the first robotic rover onto the surface of the Moon. Launch ''Luna 17'' was launched from an Earth parking orbit towards ...

landed about 30 km from Promontorium Heraclides on November 17, 1970. The land form is depicted as the face of a woman looking across Sinus Iridum in a 1679 lunar map by

Giovanni Domenico Cassini Giovanni Domenico Cassini, also known as Jean-Dominique Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was an Italian (naturalised French) mathematician, astronomer and engineer. Cassini was born in Perinaldo, near Imperia, at that time in the C ...

; this depiction, of disputed origin, is known as the "Moon Maiden".

References

External links

* , excellent earth-based image of Sinus Iridum and vicinity, including Promontorium Heraclides Mountains on the Moon {{Mountains on the Moon