Mare Nubium

The Mare Nubium ( Latin for " sea of ​​clouds " ) is one of the seven major lunar seas (an old, covered with solidified magma or lava lowlands) on the Earth's moon. It is located in the southwest quadrant of the visible lunar front side and is already clearly visible to the naked eye as a dark, frayed spot: the so-called "moon face" makes it the slightly warped to the left "mouth".

Its slightly undulating plain is approximately circular and has an average diameter of 715 mi - or about one -fifth of the diameter of the moon. From the large, northwest Oceanus Procellarum subsequent it is freiäugig perceive as a prominent spur, but it is through the small Mare Cognitum and some crater prevailed the "mainland " strips ( ridges) separated from it. The selenographic coordinates of its center are 21 ° 18 ' South, 16 ° 36' West.

Morphology in the shadows

The slightly wavy structure of the Mare Nubium, the smashing relatively few meteorite after its formation, is in the telescope particularly evident 1-2 days after half moon ( first or last quarter ) to the effect when the field will only grazing illuminated by sunlight. On the eastern edge ( right) of the Mare Nubium then occurs, for example, very clearly the grounds Rupes Recta stage revealed that 200 years ago, " Long wall " called the Hieronymus Schroeter Selenograf than because he overestimated their steepness due to the long shadows. A further 1-2 days later, the sidelight of the terminator reached the west side of Mare and brings the diverse structures of the crater Gassendi Bullialdus and - on the hilly transition to Mare Humorum - advantage.

For geologically interested amateur astronomers, this moonscape is a special treat because different line structures and terraced terrain stages of old lava bed and the rugged crater rims throw interesting shadows and thereby also allow special height measurements. The aforementioned H. Schroeter and the Vienna astronomer Josef Hopmann have built on such measurements, the height system of the moon.

Others

In September 2013 Astromen observe the impact of a small asteroid at Mare Nubium.