Mare Fecunditatis
Location: ·
The 'Sea of Fertility' — Luna 16 landed here in 1970 for the first robotic sample return from another world.
Type
Mare
Diameter
840 km
Position
7.8°S 53.7°E
Name approved
1935
Luna 16 landed here in September 1970 and returned 101 grams of soil - the first sample brought back from the Moon by a machine, and the third lunar sample of any kind. The basalts in it are aluminous and about 3.4 billion years old, distinct from anything Apollo had collected at that point.
The mare is thinly filled over an old and poorly defined basin, and unlike the circular maria it has no strong mascon.
Sunrise
Sunset
Sunrise and sunset on Mare Fecunditatis
| Event | Time | Lit |
|---|---|---|
| Computing… | ||
- Sunrise / Sunset: at the feature's centre (IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature).
- Lit: the illuminated fraction of the Moon's disc at that moment.
Further info
Official record from the IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Mare Fecunditatis
Wikipedia: Mare Fecunditatis