Which lunar mare's Latin name means Sea of Tranquility?

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The lunar mare whose Latin name means Sea of Tranquility is Mare Tranquillitatis.

Mare Tranquillitatis is a dark basaltic plain on the Moon’s near side. Its name was assigned in 1651 by astronomers Francesco Grimaldi and Giovanni Battista Riccioli, whose lunar map helped establish many traditional lunar feature names.

The mare is best known as the landing site of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed there at a location later called Tranquility Base, making it the first place humans visited on another world. The robotic Surveyor 5 also landed there in 1967.

A common mix-up is Mare Serenitatis, or Sea of Serenity, which lies nearby. Mare Tranquillitatis is about 876 kilometers across and contains basalt formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. Unlike several other large maria, it does not have a central gravitational mascon.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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