Back to Astronomy Page

Back to Main Moon Page

First of all, it's upside down from how it's viewed in the northern hemisphere of our planet.
The seas or "mares" are of course,not really seas. Neither are the oceans or "oceanum" really oceans. They are huge relatively flat areas of old lava.

There's an ancient story told of how a man and his friends were sitting outside one day when the moon suddenly seemed to go on fire. It is now thought that this was probably an asteroid hitting the moon and causing a massive explosion. In our modern times - 1994 to be exact - we have been able to see the Shoemaker-Levy comet breaking up and causing massive explosions on Jupiter, so it doesn't surprise us quite so much that this could happen. That's why astronomers have called for a surveillance programme to stop the Earth being hit by asteroids.
You can view many pictures of the Shoemaker-Levy comet hitting Jupiter here at NASA's website.

Ask The Oracle about the Moon Map