SEA OF FERTILITY
| MARE FECUNDITATIS, Latin for the Sea of Fertility. This is a great gift for newlyweds, the dad to be, baby showers or aspiring young parents! Click on the more information tab for a detailed description of this location. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A SEA OF FERTILITY CLAIM for just 27.99! |
Sea of Fertility Location Description
Mare Fecunditatis, Latin for the Sea of Fertility, is one of 23 Maria formations on the Moon. These types of formations appear as dark areas on the lunar surface when viewed from Earth. Ancient astronomers believed these dark areas were large bodies of water and named them Mare, from the Latin word Maria, which means Seas. These Lunar Maria were actually created by ancient lava flows which occurred on the Lunar surface between 3.8 to 3.2 billion years ago while the Moon was undergoing a period of major volcanic activity. It has long been assumed the Sea of Fertility was a large impact basin that filled with lava during this volcanic period, although this theory has not yet been proven. The lava in this Sea encompasses an area more than 900 Km (559 miles) in diameter and is approximately 200 meters (656 feet) thick in most locations, with a depth of 400 to 500 meters (1300 to 1650 feet) at its deepest points.
Several noteworthy craters in, or near the Sea of Fertility are Langrenus Crater and Messier/Messier A Craters. Langrenus Crater is a large impact crater located on the southeastern edge of the Sea of Fertility. It is a circular crater, approximately 20 Km (12.4 miles) in diameter. This crater stands out as a bright spot on the southeast edge of the Sea of Fertility when illuminated by sunlight. This crater was named for, and by, an early Dutch astronomer and mapmaker, Michael Florentius van Langren (1600 to 1675), who made many maps and observations for the King of Spain. Although van Langren was the first astronomer to produce a Lunar map giving specific names to Lunar features, this crater is the only one of his original names that is still recognized today. Messier and Messier A are young oblong shaped craters in the central portion of the Sea of Fertility. It is believed that Messier Crater was formed by an impact object with a shallow trajectory angle and Messier A formed when this impact object ricocheted, creating a secondary crater. These craters were named after Charles Messier (1730 to 1817), a French astronomer who published an astronomical catalog consisting of deep sky objects. Messier published this catalog to assist comet hunters like himself distinguish between permanent and transient objects in the heavens.
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