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Mare Insularum (Latin ''īnsulārum'', the "sea of islands") is a lunar mare located in the Insularum basin just south of the western Mare Imbrium. The basin material is of the Lower Imbrian 
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 by ...
, with the mare material of the Upper Imbrian
The Imbrian is a lunar geologic period divided into two epochs, the Early and Late.
Early Imbrian
In the lunar geologic timescale, the Early Imbrian epoch occurred from 3,850 million years ago to about 3,800 million years ago. It overlaps the end ...
epoch. The mare is bordered by the craters Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formula ...
on the east, and Kepler on the west. Oceanus Procellarum joins the mare to the southwest.
Copernicus is one of the most noticeable craters on the Moon. The rays from both Kepler and Copernicus protrude into the mare. It is located near the crater Fra Mauro
Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., (c.1400–1464) was a Venetian cartographer who lived in the Republic of Venice. He created the most detailed and accurate map of the world up until that time, the Fra Mauro map.
Mauro was a monk of the Camaldoles ...
, the site of the Apollo 14
Apollo 14 (January 31, 1971February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, the third to land on the Moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. It was the last of the " H missions", landings at s ...
landing. Sinus Aestuum
Sinus Aestuum (Latin ''sinus aestuum'' "Seething Bay") forms a northeastern extension to Mare Insularum. It is centered at selenographic coordinates 12.1° N, 8.3° W, and it lies within a diameter of about 320 km.
The Sinus Aestuum is a l ...
forms a northeastern extension to the mare.
The name was suggested by lunar geologist Don E. Wilhelms.To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration. Don E. Wilhelms, University of Arizona Press (1993).
References
* {{Lunar maria Insularum Insularum