COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Record
Title:
The Bay of Rainbows
Explanation:
Dark, smooth regions that cover the Moon's familiar face [ http://www.lindahal… exhibits/moon/frontisp.htm ] are called by Latin names for oceans and seas. The naming [ http://en.wikipedia… Selenography#Mapping_and_naming_the_Moon ] convention is historical [ http://www.inconsta… ], though it may seem a little ironic to denizens of the space age who recognize the Moon as a mostly [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] dry and airless world, and the smooth, dark areas as lava-flooded impact basins [ http://volcano.und.… Overview.html ]. For example, this elegant lunar vista, a careful mosaic [ http://www.avertedi… iridium_100407.html ] of telescopic images, looks across the expanse of the northwestern Mare Imbrium [ http://www.lunarrep… b2.shtml ], or Sea of Rains, into the Sinus Iridum - the Bay of Rainbows. Ringed by the Jura Mountains (montes), the bay is about 250 kilometers across, bounded at the bottom of the rugged arc by Cape (promontorium [ http://www.stargazi… atlaspromontorium.html ]) Laplace. The cape's sunlit face towers nearly 3,000 meters above the bay's surface. At the top of the arc is Cape Heraclides, at times seen as a moon maiden [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]. digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080208.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';
Credit and Copyright:
//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply">Copyright: Alan Friedman [ http://www.avertedi… ]
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_what:
Atlas
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap080208
