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Lunar mare facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Full Moon Luc Viatour
the darker areas in the picture are called Maria

Mare ( (singular: mare) is the name for a great plain on the moon. Several such maria exist. They were formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. The plural form of mare is maria. The Latin word maria means seas. Because of their high amount of iron, they reflects less light than the highlands of moon. So, they appear dark to the naked eye. They are called sea because ancient astronomers looked at the Moon and thought they saw seas and oceans on the Moon. The maria cover about 16% of the surface of the Moon and most of them are in the side of the moon which is visible from Earth.

A lunar mare, Mare Tranquillitatis was the landing site for the first manned landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Apollo 11 landed at 0°40′27″N 23°28′23″E / 00.67408°N 23.47297°E / 00.67408; 23.47297 (Apollo 11 landing site) .

Moon names
Nearside of the moon with with major maria and craters labeled

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Mar lunar para niños

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