Mare Ingenii/ɪnˈdʒiːniaɪ/ (Latin ingeniī, the "Sea of Cleverness") is one of the few lunar mare features on the far side of the Moon. The mare sits in the Ingenii basin, which is of the Pre-Nectarian epoch, which lies in turn in the outer part of the older and much larger South Pole–Aitken basin. The mare material located in Ingenii and the surrounding craters is of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The dark circular feature which dominates this mare is the crater Thomson (112 km diameter), with the overflow from Ingenii/Thomson directly to the east. Mare Ingenii is incompletely and thinly covered over much of its expanse with mare lava sheets. The light grey crater to the south of Mare Ingenii is Obruchev.
The mare has swirling patterns of bright material, similar to Reiner Gamma and to patterns within Mare Marginis, which are not associated with topographic or volcanic features. The lunar swirls are believed to be associated with magnetic fields.[2]
Prior to formal naming in 1961 by the IAU,[1] the crater was known as Basin XIV.[3]
Mare Ingenii is located at the antipode of the Mare Imbrium impact basin. The furrowed crater walls of the basin (and possibly those of Van de Graaff crater) may have been caused by focused seismic waves resulting from the Imbrium impact.[4]
The mare contains the second instance of a lunar pit discovered on the Moon and one of several outside the Earth to date.[5]
Topographic map
Gravity map based on GRAIL
Orthogonal view of Mare Ingenii, showing variation in albedo
Mare Ingenii as viewed by Apollo 17, facing south
^ ab"Mare Ingenii". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
^Shirao, Motomaro; Wood, Charles A. (January 18, 2011). The Kaguya Lunar Atlas: The Moon in High Resolution. Springer Publications. ISBN 9781441972859. Plate 91: Mare Ingenii
^"Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1A)".
^Schultz, P. H.; Gault, D. E. (February 1975). "Seismic effects from major basin formations on the moon and mercury". The Moon. 12 (2): 159. Bibcode:1975Moon...12..159S. doi:10.1007/BF00577875. S2CID 121225801.
^Atkinson, Nancy (June 17, 2010). "LRO Views Huge Lava Tube Skylight in Mare Ingenii". universetoday.com. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
MareIngenii /ɪnˈdʒiːniaɪ/ (Latin ingeniī, the "Sea of Cleverness") is one of the few lunar mare features on the far side of the Moon. The mare sits in...
attributes (Mare Australe, Mare Orientale, Mare Cognitum, Mare Marginis), or states of mind (Mare Crisium, MareIngenii, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquillitatis)...
named Mare Moscoviense (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire). Mare Desiderii was later found to be composed of a smaller mare, MareIngenii (Sea...
briefly misidentified as a mare and named Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire). It is no longer recognized. Other former maria include: Mare Parvum ("Small Sea")...
lunar nomenclature in 1960. Instead this area includes a smaller mare, MareIngenii (Sea of Ingenuity or Cleverness), and other dark craters. The naming...
aircraft and bicycle parts Thomson (crater), a lunar impact crater in the MareIngenii on the far side of the Moon Australia Thomson Dam Thomson River (Queensland)...
in MareIngenii and Mare Marginis by orbiting spacecraft. The feature on MareIngenii is located at the lunar opposite point from the center of Mare Imbrium...
KREEP-containing rocks are concentrated in the Mare Imbrium rim, the near side maria and highlands near Imbrium and the MareIngenii South Pole-Aitken basin and are...
are unnamed albedo features on MareIngenii and Mare Marginis. These are located antipodal to the Mare Imbrium and Mare Orientale impact basins. A dorsum...
Caloris Basin – "Weird Terrain" (Mercury) Mare Orientale – Mare Marginis (The Moon) Mare Imbrium – MareIngenii (The Moon) Hellas Planitia – Alba Mons (Mars)...
Maksutov (crater) McKellar (crater) Mare Australe Mare Frigoris Mare Humboldtianum MareIngeniiMare Moscoviense Mare Orientale Mendeleev (crater) Michelson...
Marius Hills, MareIngenii and Mare Tranquillitatis. The first rocks brought back by Apollo 11 were basalts. Although the mission landed on Mare Tranquillitatis...
major impacts. Well known swirls include the Reiner Gamma feature and MareIngenii. They are hypothesized to be areas that have been partially shielded...
sites have been found by remote sensing, including on the far side's MareIngenii. An even larger, intact but buried lava tube estimated to be 1.7 km in...
Global Information
Topographic map
Gravity map based on GRAIL
Orthogonal view of Mare Ingenii, showing variation in albedo
Mare Ingenii as viewed by Apollo 17, facing south
