                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2026 February 12

                             The Bay of Rainbows
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Olaf Filzinger

   Explanation: Dark, smooth regions that cover the Moon's familiar face
   are called by Latin names for oceans and seas. That naming convention
   is historical, though it may seem a little ironic to denizens of the
   space age who recognize the Moon as a mostly dry and airless world, and
   the smooth, dark areas as lava-flooded impact basins. For example, this
   telescopic lunar vista, looks over the expanse of the northwestern Mare
   Imbrium, or Sea of Rains and into the Sinus Iridum, the Bay of
   Rainbows. Ringed by the Jura Mountains (montes), the bay is about 250
   kilometers across. Seen after local sunrise, the mountains form part of
   the Sinus Iridum impact crater wall. Their rugged sunlit arc is bounded
   at the top by Cape (promontorium) Laplace reaching nearly 3,000 meters
   above the bay's surface. At the bottom of the arc is Cape Heraclides,
   depicted by Giovanni Cassini in his 1679 telescope-based drawings
   mapping the moon as a moon maiden seen in profile with long, flowing
   hair.

                  Tomorrow's picture: friends of Andromeda
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

