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presents
MARE
MOSCOVIENSE
Farside Directory - Ridge
Section 95
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION
27.3°N
147.9°E
Mare Moscoviense is a lunar mare that sits in the Moscoviense
basin and is the dominating feature of Ridge Section 095 and one
of the very few maria on the far side of the Moon. Like Mare
Marginis, this mare appears to be fairly thin. However, it is
clearly centered within a large impact basin. It is also much
lower than either the outer basin floor or the farside
highlands. The great depth of this mare beneath the nearby
highlands probably explains why mare units are so rare on the
lunar farside. Very few basins on the farside were deep enough
to allow mare volcanism. Thus, while large impact basins are
found on both the nearside and farside, large maria are mostly
found on the nearside. Mare lavas apparently could reach the
surface more often and more easily there. The crater Komarov
(Ridge Section 096) is to the southeast of the mare, and the
crater Titov is in the northern region of the mare. This region
was named Mare Moscovrae after the first images of the far side
were returned by Luna 3. However, today only the name Mare
Moscoviense is recognized by the IAU and in current use.
(Credit: Some of the information used in the section feature
descriptions was obtained from wikipedia.com. Section 95 and
this directory was created by Fran Ridge and Ned Haskin of The
Lunascan Project).
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