Mare Tranquillitatis

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Mare Tranquillitatis
The Sea of Tranquility of the Moon.
Coordinates	8.5° N, 31.4° E
Diameter	873 km
Eponym	Sea of Tranquility

Mare Tranquillitatis (Latin for Sea of Tranquility) is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on Earth's moon. The mare material within the basin consists of basalt in the intermediate to young age group of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The surrounding mountains are thought to be of the Lower Imbrian epoch, but the actual basin is probably Pre-Nectarian. The basin has irregular margins and lacks a defined multiple-ringed structure. The irregular topography in and near this basin results from the intersection of the Tranquillitatis, Nectaris, Crisium, Fecunditatis, and Serenitatis basins with two throughgoing rings of the Procellarum basin. Palus Somni, on the northeastern rim of the mare, is filled with the basalt that spilled over from Tranquillitatis.

In 1965, the Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed in Mare Tranquillitatis, after successfully transmitting 7,137 photographs of the moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission. This mare also served as the landing site for the Apollo 11 lunar module, the first manned landing on the Moon. The landing area at 0.8° N, 23.5° E has been designated Statio Tranquillitatis, and three small craters to the north of the base have been named Aldrin, Collins, and Armstrong in honor of the Apollo 11 astronauts.

Map of Mare Tranquillitatis, showing the landing sites of Apollo 11, Apollo 17, Apollo 16, and Surveyor 5. To the southeast is Mare Fecunditatis, to the northeast is Mare Crisium, to the northwest is Mare Serenitatis, and to the south is Mare Nectaris.

This Mare has a slight bluish tint relative to the rest of the moon and stands out quite well when color is processed and extracted from multiple photographs. The color is likely due to higher metal content in the basaltic soil or rocks. ^[1]

[edit] Bays

Along the periphery of the mare are several bay-shaped features that have been given names: Sinus Amoris, Sinus Asperitatis, Sinus Concordiae, and Sinus Honoris.^[2]

[edit] In the arts

"Mare Tranquillitatis" is also the name of a composition of music by composer Vangelis on his 1976 album, Albedo 0.39 and is in reference to the selenographical term.

"Sea of Tranquility" is the name of the final track on the 1994 album, Embedded, by industrial death metal band Meathook Seed.

Sea of Tranquillity is the title of a 1994 novel by Paul Russell.

"Sea of Tranquility" is also a song by the progressive rock band Barclay James Harvest, included in their 1977 album Gone to Earth. The composition was written by the band keyboardist Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme.

The Dutch stoner rock/space rock band 35007 released a 2001 2001 EP named Sea of Tranquility.

Sea of Tranquillity is the name of an Indiana based death metal band currently signed to the Cursed Productions [1] label in Elkhart, Indiana. Formed in 1992, they have released 2 albums (The Omegan Ruins & the split demo CD featuring the "Dead of Winter" recordings from 1995.) The band was on hiatus until 2007 and will be releasing the new CD "The Pale Man" again on the Cursed Label.

Howard Korder wrote a play called Sea of Tranquility.

[edit] References