page_title: Mare Vaporum
hierarchical_section_title: Mare Vaporum
caption_attribution_description: English: Mare Vaporum, on the moon, facing south. The low sun angle of 9 degrees accentuates topography. Taken from an altitude of approximately 104 km on Revolution 36 of the Apollo 17 mission. This is Figure 7.5 of The Geologic History of the Moon by Don E. Wilhelms, which has the following caption (modified for clarity):Terrain southeast of Imbrium basin, lying just beyond lower right corner of photograph. Circular mare in top half of photograph is Mare Vaporum, about 220 km across. Linear- and knob-textured terrae are parts of Imbrium-basin ejecta. Circularity of mare suggests that it fills a Vaporum basin or crater, which was deeply buried by Imbrium ejecta before mare flooding. Several small craters were superposed on Imbrium material before mare flooding. Graben near left-hand crater is also post-Imbrium and premare (graben is part of set possibly not related to basins). Rima Hyginus is in background. View southerly.
context_page_description: Mare Vaporum is a lunar mare located between the southwest rim of Mare Serenitatis and the southeast rim of Mare Imbrium. The lunar material surrounding the mare is from the Lower Imbrian epoch, and the mare material is from the Eratosthenian epoch. The mare lies in an old basin or crater that is within the Procellarum basin. The mare is 242 kilometers in diameter and 55,000 km² in area. It may be from the Pre-Imbrian period, which lasted from 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. To the south of the mare is a light colored thin line. This feature is Rima Hyginus. The mare is bordered by the mountain range Montes Apenninus. The mare was named by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1651.
context_section_description: Mare Vaporum /væˈpɔːrəm/ (Latin vapōrum, the "sea of vapors") is a lunar mare located between the southwest rim of Mare Serenitatis and the southeast rim of Mare Imbrium. The lunar material surrounding the mare is from the Lower Imbrian epoch, and the mare material is from the Eratosthenian epoch. The mare lies in an old basin or crater that is within the Procellarum basin. The mare is 242 kilometers (150 mi) in diameter and 55,000 km² (21,000 sq mi) in area. It may be from the Pre-Imbrian period, which lasted from 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. To the south of the mare is a light colored thin line. This feature is Rima Hyginus. The mare is bordered by the mountain range Montes Apenninus. The mare was named by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1651.
caption: Oblique view facing south of Mare Vaporum from lunar orbit (Apollo 17)
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