Mare Desiderii

{{Infobox Lunar mare

|name = Mare Desiderii

|image = Luna 3 moon.jpg

|caption = Luna 3 image of the far side

|eponym = Sea of Dreams

|coordinates = {{coord|33.7|S|163.5|E|globe:moon_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

|diameter =

}}

file:USSR_Moon_Stamp_1959.jpg

Mare Desiderii {{IPAc-en|d|ɛ|s|ᵻ|'|d|ɪər|i|aɪ}} (Latin dēsīderiī, the "Sea of Desires") was an area of the Moon named after Luna 3 returned the first pictures of the far side in 1959.

Early publications of the Luna 3 image referred to the Mare as Mechta, the Russian word for dream.{{cite news |author= |date=27 October 1959 |title=Photos Show Moon's Hidden Side |url= |work=Los Angeles Times |quote='A sea called the Mechta (dream) sprawls out in the southern hemisphere on the very edge of the moon's invisible side,' Tass said.}} Mechta was an alternate name for the Luna 1 spacecraft.{{cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-012A |title=Luna 1 |author= |date=28 October 2022 |website=NSSDCA Master Catalog Search |publisher=NASA |access-date=30 May 2023 }} The feature was also called the Dream Sea{{cite news |author= |date=27 October 1959 |title=Moon Pictures Herald Planet Study |work=Washington Star}} or the Sea of Dreams.{{cite news |last=Caruthers |first=Osgood |date=27 October 1959 |title=Back of Moon 'Seen' First Time |work=New York Times |quote=A huge area on the southeastern rim of the globe is called Sea of Dreams.}} Other references called it Mare Somnii, Latin for the Sea of Dreams.{{cite news |last=Posin |first=Dan Q. |date=8 April 1962 |title=Destination Moon |work=Chicago Daily Tribune }}

It was later determined to be an optical illusion in the low quality image. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) removed the name from the list of lunar nomenclature in 1960. Instead this area includes a smaller mare, Mare Ingenii (Sea of Ingenuity or Cleverness), and other dark craters overlapping with the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

The naming of this and other features by the Soviet Union was considered controversial at the time. The newly named places on Soviet lunar maps were perceived as an extension of Soviet territory. The IAU was then given the responsibility for naming newly discovered features.