Mare Marginis
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Coordinates 13°18′N 86°06′E / 13.3°N 86.1°E | | |
Diameter | 358 km[1] | |
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Eponym | Sea of the Edge |
Mare Marginis (
This mare differs from most of the nearside maria; it has an irregular outline and it appears to be fairly thin. It has small circular and elongated features in the mare plains that probably mark impact craters buried by less than 1000 to 1700 feet (300 to 500 m) of lava. Further, Mare Marginis is not centered on any clear, large impact basin. Thus, Mare Marginis seems to mark a low-lying region of the highlands where mare lavas were just able to reach the surface. Several large mare-floored craters also occur nearby. In these craters, the crater floors lie below the surrounding highland surface. Thus, they mark sites around Mare Marginis where lavas were close to the lunar surface. The major crater to the north of Marginis is Al-Biruni, with Ibn Yunus to the southeast and Goddard to the northwest.
The surface of this mare displays some lunar swirls; higher albedo deposits that are similar to the Reiner Gamma feature on the Oceanus Procellarum. This feature is associated with a relatively strong magnetic field. It is also located at the antipode of the Mare Orientale impact basin, and may be associated with the formation of that feature. Other possible explanations for the formation include a cometary impact, venting of volcanic gases, or just normal surface markings that are shielded from space weathering due to the magnetic field. But the exact cause of albedo features such as this are not completely understood.
Views
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Oblique Lunar Orbiter 4 image of the western portion of Mare Marginis. The large crater to the south is Neper.
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View from Apollo 16, with north in upper left.
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These are three views of Mare Marginis, taken by the mapping camera of theCommand ModuleAmerica orbited the Moon.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Mare Marginis". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
- Paul D. Spudis, The Once and Future Moon, Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN 1-56098-634-4.