Oceanus Procellarum - wikipedia Oceanus Procellarum Oceanus Procellarum Oceanus Procellarum is the large mare in the center and upper left of this image. Coordinates 18 ° 24 ′ N 57 ° 24 ′ W ﻿ / ﻿ 18.4 ° N 57.4 ° W ﻿ / 18.4 ; - 57.4 Coordinates : 18 ° 24 ′ N 57 ° 24 ′ W ﻿ / ﻿ 18.4 ° N 57.4 ° W ﻿ / 18.4 ; - 57.4 Diameter 2,592 km ( 1,611 mi ) Eponym Ocean of Storms Oceanus Procellarum ( / oʊ ˈsiːənəs ˌprɒsɪˈleɪrəm / ; Latin for `` Ocean of Storms '' ) is a vast lunar mare on the western edge of the near side of the Moon. It is the only one of the lunar maria to be called an `` Oceanus '' ( ocean ), due to its size : Oceanus Procellarum is the largest of the maria, stretching more than 2,500 km ( 1,600 mi ) across its north - south axis and covering roughly 4,000,000 km ( 1,500,000 sq mi ). Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Origin 3 Exploration 4 References Characteristics Like all lunar maria, Oceanus Procellarum was formed by ancient basaltic flood volcanic eruptions that covered the region in a thick, nearly flat layer of solidified magma. Unlike the other lunar maria, however, Oceanus Procellarum may or may not be contained within a single well - defined impact basin. Around its edges lie many minor bays and seas, including Mare Nubium and Mare Humorum to the south. To the northeast, Oceanus Procellarum is separated from Mare Imbrium by the Carpathian Mountains. On its north - west edge lies the 32 km wide Aristarchus ray crater, which is considered as the brightest feature on the Near side of the Moon. Also, the more - prominent ray - crater Copernicus lies within the eastern edge of the mare, distinctly with its bright ray materials sprawling over the darker material. On the northern edge of Oceanus Procellarum lies Sinus Roris. Origin Moon -- Oceanus Procellarum ( `` Ocean of Storms '' ) Ancient rift valleys -- rectangular structure ( visible -- topography -- GRAIL gravity gradients ) ( October 1, 2014 ). Ancient rift valleys -- context. Ancient rift valleys -- closeup ( artist 's concept ). Gravity anomalies ( red ) bordering the Procellarum region overlaid on a global elevation map. There are several hypotheses about the origin of Oceanus Procellarum and a related asymmetry between the near and far sides of the Moon. One of the most likely is that Procellarum was a result of an ancient giant impact on the near side of the Moon. The size of the impact basin has been estimated to be more than 3,000 kilometers, which would make it one of the largest craters in the Solar System. Image of Apollo 12 landing site ( center ) used in mission planning ( 1.75 x 1.75 km ). The impact likely happened very early in the Moon 's history : at the time when magma ocean still existed or just ceased to exist. It deposited 5 -- 30 km of crustal material on the far side forming highlands. If this is the case, all impact related structures such as crater rim, central peak etc. have been obliterated by later impacts and volcanism. One piece of evidence in support of this hypothesis is concentration of incompatible elements ( KREEP ) and low calcium pyroxene around Oceanus Procellarum. Procellarum may have also been formed by spatially inhomogeneous heating during the Moon 's formation. The GRAIL mission, which mapped the gravity gradients of the moon, found square formations resembling rift valleys surrounding the region beneath the lava plains, suggesting the basin was formed by heating and cooling of the lunar surface by internal processes rather than by an impact, which would have left a round crater. Other hypotheses include a late accretion of a companion Moon on the far side. The latter postulates that in addition to the present Moon, another smaller ( about 1,200 km in diameter ) moon was formed from debris of the giant impact. After a few tens of millions of years it collided with the Moon and due to a small collisional velocity simply piled up on one side of the Moon forming what is now known as far side highlands. Exploration The robotic lunar probes Luna 9, Luna 13, Surveyor 1 and Surveyor 3 landed in Oceanus Procellarum. Luna 9 landed southwest of Galilaei crater in 1966. Luna 13 landed southeast of Seleucus crater, later in 1966. Surveyor 1 landed north of Flamsteed crater ( within the larger Flamsteed P ) in 1966, and Surveyor 3 landed in 1967. The manned Apollo 12 mission also landed in Oceanus Procellarum, with astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean on board. Their landing site, within 300m of Surveyor 3, has become known as Mare Cognitum. References Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oceanus Procellarum. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( December 2009 ) Jump up ^ `` Oceanus Procellarum ''. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. Retrieved 2010 - 08 - 23. Jump up ^ DK Space Encyclopedia : The Near Side of the Moon ^ Jump up to : Nakamura, R. ; Yamamoto, S. ; Matsunaga, T. ; Ishihara, Y. ; Morota, T. ; Hiroi, T. ; Takeda, H. ; Ogawa, Y. ; Yokota, Y. ; Hirata, N. ; Ohtake, M. ; Saiki, K. ( 2012 ). `` Compositional evidence for an impact origin of the Moon 's Procellarum basin ''. Nature Geoscience. 5 ( 11 ) : 775. doi : 10.1038 / NGEO1614. Jump up ^ Byrne, C.J. ( 2008 ). `` A Large Basin on the Near Side of the Moon ''. Earth, Moon, and Planets. 101 ( 3 -- 4 ) : 153 -- 188. Bibcode : 2007EM&P... 101... 153B. doi : 10.1007 / s11038 - 007 - 9225 - 8. Jump up ^ `` NASA Mission Points to Origin of `` Ocean of Storms '' on Earth 's Moon '' ( Press release ). NASA. 2014 - 10 - 01. Retrieved 2014 - 10 - 02. Jump up ^ Jutzi, M. ; Asphaug, E. ( 2011 ). `` Forming the lunar farside highlands by accretion of a companion moon ''. Nature. 476 ( 7358 ) : 69 -- 72. doi : 10.1038 / nature10289. PMID 21814278. Lunar maria Oceanus Procellarum Mare Anguis Australe Cognitum Crisium Fecunditatis Frigoris Humboldtianum Humorum Imbrium Ingenii Insularum Marginis Moscoviense Nectaris Nubium Orientale Serenitatis Smythii Spumans Tranquillitatis Undarum Vaporum Lacus Aestatis Autumni Bonitatis Doloris Excellentiae Felicitatis Gaudii Hiemalis Lenitatis Luxuriae Mortis Oblivionis Odii Perseverantiae Solitudinis Somniorum Spei Temporis Timoris Veris Sinus Aestuum Amoris Asperitatis Concordiae Fidei Honoris Iridum Lunicus Medii Roris Successus Paludes Epidemiarum Putredinis Somni List of maria on the Moon Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oceanus_Procellarum&oldid=790751790 '' Categories : LQ10 quadrangle Maria on the Moon Apollo 12 Hidden categories : Pages using deprecated image syntax Coordinates on Wikidata Articles needing additional references from December 2009 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano עברית Latina Lëtzebuergesch Nederlands 日本 語 Occitan Polski Português Русский Suomi Svenska ไทย Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 15 July 2017, at 21 : 17. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where would you find the ocean of storms
Answer: the western edge of the near side of the Moon