Lacus Excellentiae (

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 ...

''excellentiae'', "Lake of Excellence") is a relatively small, irregular lunar mare in the southern latitudes 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 ...

, amidst the rugged terrain to the south of the larger

Mare Humorum Mare Humorum (Latin ''hūmōrum'', the "Sea of Moisture") is a lunar mare. The impact basin it is located in is 425 kilometers across. Geology It was not sampled by the Apollo program, so a precise age has not been determined. However, geologic ...

. The most prominent feature within the diameter of this basin is the small crater

Clausius Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (; 2 January 1822 – 24 August 1888) was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founding fathers of the science of thermodynamics. By his restatement of Sadi Carnot's principle ...

. The selenographic coordinates of this feature are and it lies within a diameter of 184 km. The name of this lunar lake is a relatively recent addition to lunar nomenclature, being officially approved in 1976 by the IAU General Assembly. The ''Lacus Excellentiae'' was the impact site of the SMART-1 lunar orbiter. This probe impacted the lunar surface on September 3, 2006 and was observed by

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

s to determine the properties of the ejected materials.

References

External links

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LAC-110
lunar chart from Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature {{Lunar maria Excellentiae, Lacus