science

Mare Serenitatis

Mare Serenitatis is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mare Serenitatis rather than just read about it. In short: Mare Serenitatis (Latin serēnitātis, the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is 674 km (419 mi).

Key takeaways

Mare Serenitatis belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mare Serenitatis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mare Serenitatis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mare Serenitatis (Latin serēnitātis, the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is 674 km (419 mi).

Geology Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian epoch. The material surrounding the mare is of the Lower Imbrian epoch, while the mare material is of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The mare basalt covers a majority of the basin and overflows into Lacus Somniorum to the northeast. The most noticeable feature is the crater Posidonius on the northeast rim of the mare. The ring feature to the west of the mare is indistinct, except for Montes Haemus. Mare Serenitatis connects with Mare Tranquillitatis to the southeast and borders Mare Vaporum to the southwest. Mare Serenitatis is an example of a mascon, an anomalous gravitational region on the Moon. A mass concentration (mascon), or gravitational high, was identified in the center of Mare Serenitatis from Doppler tracking of the five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1968. The mascon was confirmed and mapped at higher resolution with later orbiters such as Lunar Prospector and GRAIL.

Names Like most of the other maria on the Moon, Mare Serenitatis was named by Giovanni Riccioli, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized. Previously, William Gilbert had cited it as within the Regio Magna Occidentalis ("Large Western Region") in his map of c.1600. Pierre Gassendi had included it as part of the 'Homuncio' ('little man'), referring to a small humanoid figure that he could see among the maria; Gassendi also referred to it as 'Thersite' after Thersites, the ugliest warrior in the Trojan War. Michael van Langren had labelled it the Mare Eugenianum ("Eugenia's Sea") in his 1645 map, in honour of Isabella Clara Eugenia, queen of the Spanish Netherlands. And Johannes Hevelius included it within Pontus Euxinus (after the classical name for the Black Sea) in his 1647 map.

Exploration Both Luna 21 and Apollo 17 landed near the eastern border of Mare Serenitatis, in the area of the Montes Taurus range. Apollo 17 landed specifically in the Taurus-Littrow valley, and Luna 21 landed in Le Monnier crater. SpaceIL's Beresheet lunar lander was planned to land in Mare Serenitatis, but crashed into the surface on 11 April 2019. Its final resting place was about 33°N, 19°E, near to the centre of the mare.

Views

In popular culture Mare Serenitatis forms one of the eyes for the Man in the Moon. Mare Serenitatis is mentioned in Arthur C. Clarke's 1951 short story "The Sentinel". Most of the action in John Wyndham's 1933 short story "The Last Lunarians" takes place on the edge of the Sea of Serenity. Mare Serentitatis borders the Authority Moon colony in Robert Heinlein's 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. The most southern part of Mare Serenitatis is depicted on the cover of the album Apollo - Atmospheres and Soundtracks by Brian Eno, Roger Eno, and Daniel Lanois (1982). The photograph on the cover is AS17-150-23069, made during the mission of Apollo 17 in December 1972. Mare Serenitatis is the name of a Frigate-type spaceship playable in Infinite Lagrange, a game developed and published by NetEase Games. In the Sailor Moon manga and anime series, Mare Serenitatis is the location of Silver Millennium and the original Moon Castle.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mare Serenitatis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mare Serenitatis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mare Serenitatis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mare Serenitatis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mare Serenitatis

In research: Mare Serenitatis appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mare Serenitatis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mare Serenitatis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Imbrian, LQ12 quadrangle, Mare Serenitatis, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mare Serenitatis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mare Serenitatis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mare Serenitatis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mare Serenitatis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mare Serenitatis in simple terms?

Mare Serenitatis (Latin serēnitātis, the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is 674 km (419 mi).

Why does Mare Serenitatis matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mare Serenitatis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mare Serenitatis.