View source for Mare Crisium

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=Crisium Basin=
''(unofficial name; IAU feature name for central 418 km of mare: '''Mare Crisium''' )''<br /> 
{| class="wiki_table"
| colspan="2" |
Lat: 17.0°N, Long: 59.1°E, Main ring diam: 740 km, Basin depth: 4.57 km, [http://the-moon.us/wiki/R%C3%BCkl%2027 Rükl: 27]<br />
|-
|
[http://www.lpod.org/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid=364&fullsize=1 [[Image:Normal_Mare-Crisium-2.JPG|external image normal_Mare-Crisium-2.JPG]]]<br />
|
[http://www.lpod.org/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid=2316&fullsize=1 [[Image:Normal_Crisium_Basin_LIDAR_LTVT.JPG|external image normal_Crisium_Basin_LIDAR_LTVT.JPG]]]<br />
|}
'''Left:''' ''[http://lpod.org/coppermine/displayimage.php?pos=-364 Eric Roel]'' Earth-based image with north to the lower left.<br /> '''Right:''' ''[http://lpod.org/coppermine/displayimage.php?pos=-2316 Clementine]'', Clementine LIDAR Altimeter texture from [http://pdsmaps.wr.usgs.gov/PDS/public/explorer/html/lidrlvls.htm PDS Map-a-Planet] remapped to north-up aerial view by [http://www.henriksucla.dk/ LTVT]. The dot is the center position and the white circle the main ring position from Chuck Wood's [http://www.lpod.org/cwm/DataStuff/Lunar%20Basins.htm Impact Basin Database]. Grid spacing = 10 degrees.<br /> <br /> <div id="toc">

==Images==
[http://www.lpod.org/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=search&type=full&search=Mare%20Crisium LPOD Photo Gallery] [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/bin/srch_nam.shtml?Mare%20Crisium%7C0 Lunar Orbiter Images] [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/search/feature/?feature=Mare%20Crisium Apollo Images]<br /> 
* <u>'''WARNING'''</u>''':''' Apollo 10's ''Hasselblad'' frames [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-29-4244 AS10-29-4244] and [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-29-4245 4245] don't show '''Mare Crisium'''! They show raycrater '''Petit''' at the northwestern border of '''Mare Spumans'''.
* A rather strange look at '''Mare Crisium''' is Apollo 16's oblique northward looking ''Fairchild'' camera frame [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/images/print/AS16/M/1362.jpg AS16-M-1362]. In this frame, '''Mare Crisium''' is located a the centre of the curved horizon.
* Additional research orbital Apollo photography: Danny Caes
<br /> <br /> 
==Maps==
''([http://the-moon.us/wiki/LAC%20zone LAC zone] 44D3)'' [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LAC/lac44/ LAC map] [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/usgs/I707/ Geologic map] [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LTO/lto44d3_1/ LTO map]<br /> <br />  IAU page: [http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3671 Mare Crisium]<br /> <br /> 
==[http://the-moon.us/wiki/Lunar%20Basins Basin Classification]==
 (description of terms and most numeric basin data from Wood, C.A. (2004) [http://www.lpod.org/cwm/DataStuff/Lunar%20Basins.htm Impact Basin Database])<br /> 
{| class="wiki_table"
| '''Certainty of Existence'''<br />
| '''USGS Age'''<br />
| '''Wilhelms Age Group'''<br />
| '''Ring Diameters'''<br />
| '''Mare Thickness'''<br />
| '''Mascon'''<br />
|-
| Certain<br />
| Nectarian<br />
| 11<br />
| 360, 540, '''740''', 1080, 1600 km<br />
| 1.9 km<br />
| Yes, +95 mG gravity anomaly<br />
|}
<br /> 
==Description: Wikipedia==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Crisium Mare Crisium]<br /> <br /> 
==Named lunar formations on the floor of Mare Crisium==
[http://the-moon.us/wiki/Barker%27s%20Quadrangle Barker's Quadrangle], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Curtis Curtis], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Dorsa%20Harker Dorsa Harker], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Dorsa%20Tetyaev Dorsa Tetyaev], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Dorsum%20Oppel Dorsum Oppel], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Dorsum%20Termier Dorsum Termier], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Eckert Eckert], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Fahrenheit Fahrenheit], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Greaves Greaves], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Lev Lev], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Lick Lick], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Mons%20Usov Mons Usov], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Peirce Peirce], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Picard Picard], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Swift Swift], and [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Yerkes Yerkes]<br /> <br /> 
==Additional Information==

* Depth data from [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Kurt%20Fisher%20Crater%20Depths Kurt Fisher database]
** Pike, 1976: 3.75 km
** Cherrington, 1969: 4.38 km
* 12 transient lunar phenoma reported in Crisium; A.P.S. Crotts (2007).
* Mare area of 228,000 km^2 according to measurements by [http://www.lpod.org/cwm/DataStuff/MareAreas.htm Jim Whitford-Stark].
* Magnetic field anomaly and nearby gravity anomaly. [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Milbury%20et%20al%2C%202008 Milbury et al, 2008]
* [http://digidownload.libero.it/glrgroup/selenologytoday12.pdf Measurements of North West edge] (PDF) by George Tarsoudis. ''Selenology Today'' No 12 2009 p 17-21.
* Curious obscure-looking depression with dark rim, detected by Danny Caes on the right part of Apollo 17's orbital ''ITEK''-panoramic frame [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS17-P-2227 AS17-P-2227]. This could be of the same nature as the so-called '''''Cinder Cone''''' near '''Lassell D''', once observed and photographed by CMP Ken Mattingly of Apollo 16.
* One of two basins with crustal thicknesses near zero km. ''[http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6120/671.full.pdf The Crust of the Moon as Seen by Grail]'' by Wieczorek et al (2013).
* Atypical exposure of olivine-rich material - from mantle? - surrounding this basin. Yamamoto et al (2010) ''Nat. Geosci. 3'', 533.
<br /> 
==Cloud at Mare Crisium?==

* Last evening (May 19th) on observing the moon's slender crescent, about two days old, I was struck with a very peculiar appearance on the westerly side of '''Mare Crisium''', just on, or immediately within, the dark of the 'terminator'. It seemed a ''curved feathery mist or cloud'' lying just over the edge of the 'Mare', and against the spur or range of mountains bounding the westerly side of the great valley. It seemed to be divided longitudinally by a faint dark line, and looked not unlike a ''feather''. It must have been more than 100 miles long, by 40 or 50 miles wide. The definition was excellent, and I watched it for nearly an hour, showing it to several friends. In colour and appearance it was so strickingly different from the other illuminated parts, and so different from anything else I have ever seen on the moon, that I scarcely think it possible to be mistaken in its ''vapoury'' character.
* Source: W.R.Corliss's ''Mysterious Universe; a handbook of astronomical anomalies'', page 237 (Jackson, J.G.; ''English Mechanic'', 35:326, 1882)
==More clouds?==

* Now, at various times when studying the floor of '''Mare Crisium''', I have noticed ''waves of light and shade'', so that it was difficult at times to see objects with which I was perfectly familiar. Also ''clouds'' have passed over the object I have been viewing. These ''clouds'' have been seen by other observers, and are mentioned in Neison. That they belong to the moon there can be no doubt, and I gradually come to the conclusion that ''vapour'' of some kind still existed on the moon. I had my surmises verified on one particularly fine night (the best I ever had) when I plainly saw a well-defined ''cloud'' pass over the object I was copying.
* Source: W.R.Corliss's ''Mysterious Universe; a handbook of astronomical anomalies'', page 236 (Hardy, Jas. D.; ''British Astronomical Association'', Journal, 7:139-141, 1897)
==Flashing Lunar Mountain at Mare Crisium?==

* Mr. Robert M. Adams has called to our attention a curious lunar observation by Mr. Robert Miles of Woodland, California, an observation rather reminiscent of Mr. Brian Warner's article on pages 130-131 of our November-December 1955 issue. Mr. Miles says in part''':''' "I noticed a ''flash'' of white light that caught my eye. At first I thought it could have been a lunar meteor. But it kept flashing on and off'''...''' The light was very bright but changed its color to a very bright blue, like an arch light. It was brighter than the sunlit portions that I was looking at". Sketches indicate that the object in question lay on the night side of the terminator and perhaps about 100 miles east of the gap in the mountains on the east boundary of the '''Mare Crisium'''. Mr. Miles found the duration of visibility of the flashing light to be from 3:00 to 4:30 U.T. on January 17, 1956. The colongitude was then 320°.5 to 321°.3. These colongitudes seem inconsistent with the sketches, and the editor suspects that the U.T. date was really January 16. It would be interesting to hear whether anyone else was observing this lunar area at this same time, or better still, was then photographing the moon.
* Source: W.R.Corliss's ''Mysterious Universe; a handbook of astronomical anomalies'', page 227 (Anonymous, ''Strolling Astronomer'', 10:20, 1956)
<br /> 
==Lunar Ellipse of Fire==
 The western part of the rim of '''Mare Crisium''' is (or was?) number eleven in the list of 12 localities in the '''''Lunar Ellipse of Fire''''' (see article from Farouk El-Baz in ''Sky and Telescope'' - June 1973).<br /> <br /> 
==Nomenclature==

* The IAU feature name is Latin for "Sea of Crises", the Latin name having been given by [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Riccioli Riccioli] (1651) ( [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Whitaker Whitaker], p. 215). The impact basin is named after the mare.
* Labeled '''Brittannia''' in a pre-telescopic sketch map by William [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Gilbert Gilbert] (ca. 1600) ( [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Whitaker Whitaker], p. 15).
* Referred to as '''the Caspian''' by Thomas [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Harriot Harriot] (1610) in describing his pre-Galileo telescopic sketch map of the Moon, suggesting this was an established name at that time, possibly inspired by Plutarch's mention (ca. 100 AD) of the Caspian Sea as typifying a sort of feature that might exist on the Moon ([http://the-moon.us/wiki/Whitaker Whitaker], pp. 6-7 and 17) ([http://the-moon.us/wiki/Galilaei Galileo] mentions the "ancient spots" but gives no indication of their having had names).
* Labeled '''Mare de Moura''' in [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Langrenus Van Langren]'s manuscript map, modified to '''Mare de Moura sive Caspium''' in his published engraving (1645) ([http://the-moon.us/wiki/Whitaker Whitaker], p. 192).
* [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Hevelius Hevelius] (1647) (judging from the reproduction of his map in [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Whitaker Whitaker], p. 53), seems to have called this '''Mare Moetius''', using the name '''Mare Caspium''' for the modern [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Mare%20Fecunditatis Mare Fecunditatis]. Oddly, Whitaker mentions neither of these in his list of Hevelius' names (Appendix E, pp. 201-208).
* '''Mare Crisium''' is nicknamed the '''''Fish''''' (or '''''Angelfish''''') by Charles Wood (see LPOD [http://lpod.wikispaces.com/July%205%2C%202014 Fish Scales]).
* The western rim of Mare Crisium was once called the '''Coxwell mountains''', but the I.A.U. did not accept that name (research: "Coxwell mountains" by Danny Caes; see: [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1864AN.....61..213B Recently named Lunar Craters.] by W. R. [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Birt Birt], Esq.).
* An area on the southeastern floor of '''Mare Crisium''' was once known to British observers as "'''The Trapezium'''" or [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Barker%27s%20Quadrangle Barker's Quadrangle].
* The main rim of '''Mare Crisium''' was [http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/February_3,_2006 unofficially named] the '''''Wasatch mountains''''' by Charles Wood.
* Southeast of [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Mare%20Crisium Mare Crisium] (near [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Condorcet Condorcet], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Auzout Auzout], [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Firmicus Firmicus], and [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Apollonius Apollonius]) runs the unofficially named '''''North Valley'''''/ '''''Vallis North'''''; or '''''Vermiform Valley'''''. These unofficial names are included in the [http://www.shallowsky.com/moon/rukl38.html Hitchhiker's Guide to Rukl 38].
* Long before the arrival of all these unofficial names, [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Hevelius Hevelius] (Johann Hewelcke, 1611-1687) called '''Mare Crisium''''s northern rim '''''Montes Alani''''', and the southwestern rim '''''Montes Corax'''''.
* At 22.69°N /54.45°E (in Hevelius' '''''Montes Alani''''') is a very bright [http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/Mare%20Crisium%20North%20Rim%20Bright%20Spot ray-craterlet], which is nicknamed '''''Facula Alani''''' or '''''Alani's Bright Spot''''' by Danny Caes. The ejecta around this craterlet are readily visible towards the left hand edge of Eric Roel's image shown above.
<br /> 
==Greek letter designations at and near Mare Crisium==

* Harold Hill called the southeastern corner of Mare Crisium '''''Promontorium Auzout Delta''''', see Harold Hill's ''A Portfolio of Lunar Drawings'', pages 26, 27 (SE corner of the '''Mare Crisium''' region).
* '''Mare Crisium Delta''' (peak or hill in the western part of '''Mare Crisium''''s rim, north-northwest of '''Yerkes E''').
* '''Mare Crisium Rho''' (pronounced part of J.Hewelcke's '''Montes Alani''', west of '''Facula Alani''') (for '''Mare Crisium Delta''' and '''Rho''', see Chart 33 in the ''Times Atlas of the Moon'').
* None of the Greek letter designations at the coastline of '''Mare Crisium''' were included on [http://the-moon.us/wiki/SLC-A3 SLC chart A3] (the northern part of '''Mare Crisium''') and [http://the-moon.us/wiki/SLC-A4 SLC chart A4] (the southern part of '''Mare Crisium'''). Was the eastern part of the moon's near side (at and around '''Mare Crisium''') somehow "forgotten" terrain during the making of the SLC charts? (''System of Lunar Craters'', 1966).
* '''Andradae''' and '''Torii''' were two of Van Langren's disallowed names for certain parts of '''Mare Crisium''' ('''Andradae''' should have been '''Mare Crisium Omega''', and '''Torii''' should have been '''Mare Crisium Tau'''). Source: Ewen A. Whitaker's ''Mapping and Naming the Moon''.
<br /> 
==LROC Articles==

* [http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/?archives/409-Ghost-Crater-in-Southern-Mare-Crisium!.html Ghost Crater in Southern Mare Crisium]
* [http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/18 Crisium's Constellation Region of Interest]
<br /> 
==LPOD Articles==

* [http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/November_28,_2006 Little Detective.]
* [http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/March_30,_2006 No Crisis In Crisium]
* [http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/September_30,_2004 Crisium Closeup]
* [http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/February_23,_2007 A Flat Black Crisium]
* [http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/February_3,_2006 Sunset on the Wasatch Mountains]
* [http://lpod.wikispaces.com/March%2013%2C%202010 Rays, Rays Everywhere]
* [http://lpod.wikispaces.com/July%205%2C%202014 Fish Scales]
<br /> 
==Lunar 100==

* [http://the-moon.us/wiki/Lunar%20100 L10]: Mare contained in large circular basin.
<br /> 
==Bibliography==

** ''[http://the-moon.us/wiki/Apollo%20over%20the%20Moon Apollo over the Moon; A View from Orbit]'', Chapter 3: The Terrae ([http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-362/ch3.1.htm Part 1]), Figure 34.
** Hill, Harold. ''[http://the-moon.us/wiki/A%20Portfolio%20of%20Lunar%20Drawings A Portfolio of Lunar Drawings], pages 26, 27 (the SE-corner of '''Mare Crisium''').''
* Wood, C.A. Feb. 2004. "Auzout: A Minor Crater and Some Big Ideas."
** Sky and Telescope ''Feb. 2004.''
* Wood, C.A. Apr. 2007. "Mystery Maria."
** Sky and Telescope ''113(4): 63-64.''
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