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Credit & Copyright: Olaf Filzinger
Explanation:
Dark, smooth regions that cover the Moon's
familiar face
are called by Latin names for oceans and seas.
That naming
convention is
historical,
though it may seem a little ironic to denizens of the space age
who recognize the Moon as a
mostly dry and airless world,
and the smooth, dark areas as
lava-flooded impact basins.
For example, this telescopic lunar vista,
looks over the expanse of the northwestern Mare Imbrium,
or Sea of Rains and into the Sinus Iridum, the
Bay of Rainbows.
Ringed by the
Jura Mountains (montes),
the bay is about 250 kilometers across.
Seen after local sunrise, the mountains form part of the
Sinus Iridum impact crater wall.
Their rugged sunlit arc is bounded at the top by Cape (promontorium) Laplace
reaching nearly 3,000 meters above the bay's surface.
At the bottom of the arc is Cape Heraclides,
depicted
by Giovanni Cassini in his 1679 telescope-based drawings mapping
the moon as a
moon maiden
seen in profile with
long, flowing hair.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: sunrise
Publications with words: sunrise
See also: