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Sinus Roris

Bay of Dew, minor mare on the Moon

A bay or small sea in the far northwestern quadrant of the Moon's nearside, Sinus Roris is broad plain some two hundred kilometres across. It's location near the Moon's limb, however, makes this bay appear extremely narrow and foreshortened as seen from Earth. It lies northwestward from the much larger Mare Imbrium, near the bight in that sea known as Sinus Iridum, the Bay of Rainbows. Sinus Roris is separated from Sinus Iridum by a narrow headland marked by the crater Mairan.

The northern fringes of the Bay of Dew are marked by a complex of broad craters and walled plains, notably the interconnected group of Pythagoras, Babbage and South. The surface of Sinus Roris has a higher albedo than maria farther to the south, and it is theorised that the impacts that caused these large craters perhaps scattered debris southwards and so lightened the basalt of the bay's surface.

While the northern edge of Sinus Roris is well-defined, its other borders are less emphatic. On its western edge lie the crater Markov and the walled plain Oenipedes, while in other directions the surface of the bay blends with other larger maria. To the northeast it connects with Mare Frigoris, the Sea of Cold that runs across the northern parts of the Moon's nearside. To the south, beyond the domed heights of Mons Rümker, its surface merges with that of the vast western plain of the Moon, Oceanus Procellarum or the Ocean of Storms.

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