Mare Nubium
| Mare Nubium | |
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 Mare Nubium |
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| Coordinates | 21°18′S 16°36′W / 21.3°S 16.6°WCoordinates: 21°18′S 16°36′W / 21.3°S 16.6°W |
| Diameter | 715 km (444 mi)[1][2] |
| Eponym | Sea of Clouds |
Mare Nubium ("sea of clouds") is a lunar mare in the Nubium basin on the Moon's near side. The mare is located just to the southeast of Oceanus Procellarum.
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Formation [edit]
The basin containing Mare Nubium is believed to have been part of the Pre-Nectarian system, with the surrounding basin material being of the Lower Imbrian epoch. The mare material is of the Upper Imbrian epoch.[citation needed]
The crater to the west of the mare is Bullialdus,[3] which is of the Eratosthenian Epoch. This means the crater is younger than the mare it sits in.[citation needed] The crater that sits on the southern rim of the mare is Pitatus.
Names [edit]
Like most of the other maria on the Moon, Mare Nubium was named by Giovanni Riccioli, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized.[4] Previously, William Gilbert had included it among the Continens Meridionalis ("Southern Continent") in his map of c.1600,[5] and Michael Van Langren had labelled it the Mare Borbonicum (after the House of Bourbon) in his 1645 map.[6]
Exploration [edit]
The first released images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009 were of the Mare Nubium.[citation needed]
References [edit]
- ^ "Moon Mare/Maria". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- ^ "Mare Nubium". NASA Lunar Atlas. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
- ^ "Observatorio ARVAL - Moon Map". Observatorio ARVAL. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
- ^ Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.61.
- ^ Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.15
- ^ Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.41, 198.
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