Mare Orientale /ɔːriɛnˈteɪliː/ (Latin orientāle, the “eastern sea”) is a lunar mare. It is located on the western border of the near side and far side of the Moon, and is difficult to see from an Earthbound perspective. Images from spacecraft have revealed it to be one of the most striking large scale lunar features, resembling a target ring bullseye. Geology During the 1960s, rectified images
Mendeleev is a large lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, as seen from the Earth. The southern rim of this walled plain just crosses the lunar equator. Intruding into the eastern rim of Mendeleev is the crater Schuster. Nearly on the opposite side, the smaller Hartmann intrudes into west-southwestern rim. The crater is named after the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev.
Michelson is a crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies along the northeastern outer rim of the huge walled plain Hertzsprung, and to the southwest of the crater Kolhörster. This is a heavily eroded crater formation with multiple impacts along the rim edge and within the interior. The rim is roughly circular, but has been rendered relatively uneven due to
Montes Cordillera is a mountain range on the Moon. This feature forms the outer wall of peaks that surround the Mare Orientale impact basin, the inner ring being formed by the Montes Rook. The center of the range is located at selenographic coordinates 17.5° S, 81.6° W, and the diameter is 574 km (357 mi). Montes Cordillera 1967 photograph of the Mare Orientale basin made by NASA’s Lunar
Montes Rook is a ring-shaped mountain range that lies along the western limb of the Moon, crossing over to the far side. It completely encircles the Mare Orientale, and forms part of a massive impact basin feature. This range in turn is encircled by the larger Montes Cordillera, which is separated from the Montes Rook by a rugged, ring-shaped plain.
Maksutov is a crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located just to the south-southwest of the larger walled plain Oppenheimer. To the southwest lies the crater Nishina, and to the west-northwest is the merged crater pairing of Davisson and Leibnitz. This crater has a reasonably well-defined outer rim that has not been significantly degraded through impact erosion. The more notable feature of
McKellar is a lunar impact crater on the Moon’s far side, and it cannot be viewed directly from the Earth. It lies to the southwest of the crater Crookes, and the ray system from this impact covers the floor and sides of McKellar. To the south is the slightly smaller Bok. This crater is somewhat eroded, with a small crater along the northwestern rim. The interior
Mare Australe /ɔːˈstreɪliː/ (Latin austrāle the “Southern Sea“) is a lunar mare located in the southeastern hemisphere of the Moon. It is 997 kilometers in diameter, overlapping the near and far sides of the Moon. Smooth, dark volcanic basalt lines the bottom of the mare. The Australe basin was formed in the Pre-Nectarian epoch, while the mare material inside formed in the Upper Imbrian epoch. The basin was almost
Mare Frigoris /frɪˈɡɔːrɪs/ (Latin frīgōris, the “Sea of Cold”) is a lunar mare in the far north of the Moon. It is located in the outer rings of the Procellarum basin, just north of Mare Imbrium, and stretches east to north of Mare Serenitatis. It is just north of the dark crater Plato. The basin material surrounding the mare is of the Lower Imbrian epoch, while the
Mare Humboldtianum /hʌmboʊltiˈeɪnəm/ (Latin humboldtiānum, the “Sea of Alexander von Humboldt”) is a lunar mare located just to the east of Mare Frigoris, in the center of Humboldtianum basin. It is located along the northeastern limb of the Moon, and continues on to the far side. Due to its location, the visibility of this feature can be affected by libration, and on occasion it can