Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2022 January 27
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                          Western Moon, Eastern Sea
                  Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Tom Glenn

   Explanation: [5]The Mare Orientale, Latin for Eastern Sea, is one of
   the most striking large scale lunar features. The youngest of the large
   lunar impact basins it's very difficult to see from an [6]earthbound
   perspective. Still, taken during a period of favorable tilt, or
   libration of the lunar nearside, the Eastern Sea can be found near top
   center in this sharp telescopic view, extremely foreshortened [7]along
   the Moon's western edge. Formed by the impact of an asteroid over 3
   billion years ago and nearly 1000 kilometers across, the [8]impact
   basin's concentric circular features, ripples in the lunar crust, are a
   little easier to spot in spacecraft images of the Moon, though. So why
   is the Eastern Sea at the Moon's western edge? The Mare Orientale lunar
   feature was named before 1961. That's when the convention labeling
   [9]east and west on lunar maps was reversed.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [21]Robert Nemiroff ([22]MTU) & [23]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([24]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [25]Specific rights apply.
              [26]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [27]ASD at [28]NASA / [29]GSFC
                           & [30]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2201/Mare_Orientale_Nov_27_2021_TGlenn_fullsize.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.flickr.com/people/140032790@N06/
   5. http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/189
   6. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/set-your-sights-on-this-lunar-bulls-eye/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2201/WesternMoonTomGlennLabels.jpg
   8. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/orbiter/lunar_orbiter/impact_basin/
   9. https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2007JBAA..117..129B
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220126.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  14. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  19. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220127
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220128.html
  21. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  23. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  24. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  26. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  27. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  30. http://www.mtu.edu/