English: These are three views of
Mare Tranquillitatis on the moon, taken by the mapping camera of the
Apollo 17 mission in 1972, facing south-southwest from an average altitude of 111 km on Revolution 36 of the mission. At the left is the east side of Mare Tranquillitatis, with the craters
Franz (bottom right),
Lyell (dark floor, right of center), and
Taruntius (upper left). The "bay" of dark mare (basalt) at left is
Sinus Concordiae, with "islands" of older light highland material. At right is the crater
Cauchy, which lies between the
Rupes Cauchy and Cauchy rille. The center photo shows the central mare with craters
Vitruvius (lower right) and
Gardner (bottom center). At the horizon are lighter highlands at the southern margin of the mare, near the
Apollo 11 landing site. The crater
Jansen is visible at the edges of both the center and right photos. The right photo shows the western mare, with the craters
Dawes (lower left) and the large
Plinius (43 km diameter), with the Plinius Rilles in the foreground. These photos were taken within minutes of each other as the
Command Module America orbited the moon. The sun elevation drops from 46 degrees at left to 30 degrees at right.