Mare Nubium (Latin ''nūbium'', the "sea of clouds") 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 Nubium basin on the Moon's near side. The mare is located just to the southeast of Oceanus Procellarum.

Formation

The basin containing Mare Nubium is believed to have been part of the Pre-Nectarian system. The mare material is of the Imbrian and

Eratosthenian The Eratosthenian period in the lunar geologic timescale runs from 3,200 million years ago to 1,100 million years ago. It is named after the crater Eratosthenes, which displays characteristics typical of craters of this age, including a surface ...

age. Bullialdus crater, a prominent feature on the west side of the mare, is of

age. Other features within the mare include Pitatus on the southern margin and Guericke bounding the mare to the north. Opelt, Gould, Kies, Nicollet,

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

, Birt, and Rupes Recta (the Straight Wall) lie within the mare.

Names

Like most of the other maria on the Moon, Mare Nubium was named by Giovanni Riccioli, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized. Previously, William Gilbert had included it among the Continens Meridionalis ("Southern Continent") in his map of ''c''.1600, and Michael van Langren had labelled it the Mare Borbonicum (after the

House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...

) in his 1645 map.

Exploration

The first released images from the

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric Polar orbit, polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic ...

in 2009 were of the lunar highlands 200 km south of Mare Nubium.

News

In September 2013, Spanish astronomers observed and recorded an impact event when a large rock hit the lunar surface in Mare Nubium.

References

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