Mare Fecunditatis (Latin ''fēcunditātis'', the "Sea of Fecundity" or "Sea of Fertility") is a

lunar mare The lunar maria ( ; mare ) are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by lava flowing into ancient impact basins. They are less reflective than the "highlands" as a result of their iron-rich composition, and hence appear dark to ...

in the eastern half of the visible

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. The mare has a maximum diameter of 840 km. __NOTOC__

Description

The Fecunditatis basin formed in the Pre-Nectarian

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

, while the basin material surrounding the mare is of the subsequent

Nectarian The Nectarian Period of the lunar geologic timescale was from 3.920 billion years ago to 3.850 billion years ago. It is the period during which the Nectaris Basin and other major basins were formed by large impact events. Ejecta from Nectaris for ...

epoch. The mare material is of the Upper Imbrian epoch and is relatively thin compared to the neighboring

Mare Crisium Mare Crisium (Latin ''crisium'', the "Sea of Crises") is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. Mare Crisium is a basin of Nectarian age. It was formed by the flooding of basaltic lava that fill ...

Mare Tranquillitatis Mare Tranquillitatis (Latin for Sea of Tranquillity or Sea of Tranquility) is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. It contains Tranquility Base, the first location on another celestial body to be visited by huma ...

. This basin is overlapped with the Nectaris, Tranquillitatis, and Crisium basins. Fecunditatis basin meets Nectaris basin along Fecunditatis' western edge, with the area along this zone faulted by arcuated

graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

s. On the eastern edge of Fecunditatis is the

crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...

Langrenus. Near the center lie the interesting craters Messier and Messier A. It was here that the first automated sample return took place via the Luna 16 probe, in September 1970.

Sinus Successus The Moon, lunar feature Sinus Successus (Latin ''sinus successūs'' "Bay of Success") lies along the eastern edge of Mare Fecunditatis. It is an outward bulge that forms a type of bay. The selenographic coordinates of Sinus Successus are 0.9° N ...

lies along the eastern edge of the mare. Unlike many other maria, there is no mass concentration (mascon), or gravitational high, in the center of Mare Fecunditatis. Mascons were identified in the center of other maria (such as Serenitatis or Imbrium) from Doppler tracking of the five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1968. The gravity field was mapped at higher resolution with later orbiters such as

Lunar Prospector ''Lunar Prospector'' was a spacecraft that orbited the Moon for 19 months in 1998-99. From a low polar orbit, it mapped surface composition including lunar hydrogen deposits, measured magnetic and gravity fields, and studied lunar outgassing e ...

and

GRAIL The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...

, which unveiled an irregular pattern.

Gallery

File:Fecunditatis basin topo.jpg, Topographic map File:Fecunditatis basin GRAIL gravity.jpg, Gravity map based on

File:Mare Fecunditatis AS15-95-12995.jpg,

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program and the fourth Moon landing. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greate ...

image

References

External links

High resolution lunar overflight video
by Seán Doran, based on LRO data, that starts over the western margin of Mare Fecunditatis and then proceeds to

* {{Lunar maria Fecunditatis Fecunditatis Fecunditatis

Description

Gallery

See also

References

External links