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                           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   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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