Editing Mare Humorum

{{Short description|Lunar surface depression}}
{{Infobox Lunar mare
|name        = Mare Humorum
|image       = Mare Humorum.jpg
|caption     = Mare Humorum. Several connections exist to Oceanus Procellarum to the north. This makes a shape somewhat like a head and shoulders. The rather large crater to the north of the mare is [[Gassendi (crater)|Gassendi]]. The crater on the southwestern rim of the basin is [[Doppelmayer (crater)|Doppelmayer]]. The light grey feature that protrudes into the mare from the southeast is [[Promontorium Kelvin]].
|eponym      = Sea of Moisture
|coordinates = {{coord|24.4|S|38.6|W|globe:moon_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
|diameter    = {{convert|420|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name=USGS>{{gpn|3677}}</ref>
}}
[[File:Humorum Lum Si ARP- Ferruggia-Zetta.jpg|thumb|308x308px|Altered Rectified Proiection (ARP) Selenochromatic Image (Si) of the Mare Humorum area with some selenochromatic landmarks]]
'''Mare Humorum''' {{IPAc-en|h|juː|'|m|oʊr|ə|m}} (Latin ''hūmōrum'', the "'''Sea of Moisture'''" or "'''Sea of [[Humorism|Humors]]'''") is a [[lunar mare]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/moon/amoon.html|title=Moon|website=stars.astro.illinois.edu}}</ref> The [[impact basin]] it is located in is {{convert|425|km|mi|sp=us}} across.<ref>D. Ben J. Bussey et al., "Humorum Basin Geology from Clementine Data," Lunar and Planetary Science Conference XXVIII (1997)</ref>

==Geology==
It was not sampled by the Apollo program, so a precise age has not been determined. However, geological mapping indicates that it is intermediate in age between the [[mare Imbrium|Imbrium]] and [[Mare Nectaris|Nectaris]] Basins, suggesting an age of about 3.9 billion years.<ref>[https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1348 The geologic history of the Moon].  [[USGS]] Professional Paper 1348. By [[Don Wilhelms|Don E. Wilhelms]], John F. McCauley, and Newell J. Trask.  U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1987.  Table 9-3.</ref>  The Humorum basin is filled with a thick layer of mare [[basalt]], believed to exceed 3 kilometers in thickness at the center of the basin.

A [[mass concentration (astronomy)|mass concentration]] (mascon), or gravitational high, was identified in the center of Mare Humorum from Doppler tracking of the five [[Lunar Orbiter program|Lunar Orbiter]] spacecraft in 1968.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.161.3842.680 | title = Mascons: Lunar Mass Concentrations | year = 1968 | author = P. M. Muller, W. L. Sjogren | journal = Science | volume =  161 | issue = 3842  | pages = 680–684 | pmid=17801458| bibcode = 1968Sci...161..680M | s2cid = 40110502 }}</ref>  The mascon was confirmed and mapped at higher resolution with later orbiters such as [[Lunar Prospector]] and [[Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory|GRAIL]].

On the north edge of Mare Humorum is the large [[Impact crater|crater]] [[Gassendi (crater)|Gassendi]], which was considered as a possible landing site for [[Apollo 17]].{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}  To the south are the floor-fractured [[Vitello (crater)|Vitello]] crater, the partially flooded [[Doppelmayer (crater)|Doppelmayer]], and the smaller [[Puiseux (crater)|Puiseux]].  To the east are [[Hippalus (crater)|Hippalus]] crater and [[Promontorium Kelvin]].  To the west are the Rimae Doppelmayer and the Rupes Liebig, which are cliffs near [[Liebig (crater)|Liebig]] itself which is just west of the mare.

<gallery heights="200px" mode="packed">
File:Humorum basin topo.jpg|Satellite image
File:Humorum basin GRAIL gravity.jpg|Gravity map based on [[Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory|GRAIL]]
</gallery>

==Names==
Like most of the other maria on the Moon, Mare Humorum was named by [[Giovanni Riccioli]], whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized.<ref>Ewen A. Whitaker, ''Mapping and Naming the Moon'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.61.</ref> Previously, the 17th century astronomer [[Pierre Gassendi]] had named it Anticaspia ('opposite to the Caspian', referring to [[Mare Crisium]], which he had named after the [[Caspian Sea]]),<ref>Ewen A. Whitaker, ''Mapping and Naming the Moon'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.33</ref> and [[Michael van Langren]] had labelled it the Mare Venetum ("[[Venice|Venetian]] Sea") in his 1645 map.<ref>Ewen A. Whitaker, ''Mapping and Naming the Moon'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.41, 198.</ref> [[Johannes Hevelius]] called it Sinus Sirbonis ("Bay of Serbonis", after the lake of [[Serbonis]], now [[Lake Bardawil]], in [[Egypt]]) in his 1647 map.

==See also==
*[[Volcanism on the Moon]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web
 | last = Wood | first = Chuck | date = April 12, 2007
 | url = http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/April_12,_2007
 | title = Ring the Bell II
 | publisher = Lunar Photo of the Day
 | accessdate = 2017-01-29 }}

{{Lunar maria}}

[[Category:Maria on the Moon|Humorum]]