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The maria cover about 16% of the lunar surface, mostly on the side visible from Earth. The few maria on the far side are much smaller, residing mostly in very large craters. The traditional nomenclature for the Moon also includes one oceanus (ocean), as well as features with the names lacus ('lake'), palus ('marsh'), and sinus ('bay'). The last ...
1882 chart of the moon with maria. This is a list of maria (large, dark, basaltic plains) on the Moon. 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. [1]
Lunar nearside with major maria and craters labeled. Lunar maria (singular mare) are large, dark, regions of the Moon.They do not contain any water, but are believed to have been formed from molten rock from the Moon's mantle coming out onto the surface of the Moon.
Almost all maria are on the near side of the Moon, and cover 31% of the surface of the near side [72] compared with 2% of the far side. [130] This is likely due to a concentration of heat-producing elements under the crust on the near side, which would have caused the underlying mantle to heat up, partially melt, rise to the surface and erupt.
Photograph of the far side of the Moon, with Mare Orientale (center left) and the mare of the crater Apollo (top left) being visible, taken by Orion spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission. The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, opposite to the near side, because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's ...
Many tend to cover the floors of large impact basins and are therefore typically circular in outline, with some smaller maria filling the bottoms of impact craters. [5] The major lunar maria range in size from more than 200 km (120 mi) to about 1,400 km (870 mi) and are outclassed only by the larger Oceanus Procellarum , which has a diameter of ...
Lunar nearside with major maria and craters labeled Earthshine reflecting off the Moon. The bright region at left is directly illuminated by sunlight, while the rest of the Moon is faintly lit by sunlight reflected off the Earth. Generally, the Moon can be viewed even with the naked eye, however it may be more enjoyable with optical instruments.
Geological studies of the Moon are based on a combination of Earth-based telescope observations, measurements from orbiting spacecraft, lunar samples, and geophysical data. . Six locations were sampled directly during the crewed Apollo program landings from 1969 to 1972, which returned 382 kilograms (842 lb) of lunar rock and lunar soil to Earth [8] In addition, three robotic Soviet Luna ...