USING THIS LIST

• FINDING NAMES: Ignore words like "the", "Mt.", or "Lake." Mt. Hathor is under H, Cape Juno is under J.
• EACH ENTRY: the title links to a tour with local maps. Links inside an entry get you simple definitions.
• CAPITALS--Large or famous places are in CAPITALS.
• EAST AND WEST: on Venus, longitude is always measured east, from 0 right up to 359.
  

Ma Islands: 21 S, 55 E

A chain of several islands up to 200 km long and 100 wide, northeast of Umay-Ene, largest of the Alpha Islands. The Ma chain is low but rugged, possibly tesserated, with subtropical forest. The scans of this region show low relief, so it's hard to give details for these islands--coastlines, sizes, and shapes are uncertain. To the west is Cape Juksakka, northern tip of Umay-Ene. To the east is Kastusha, largest of the rugged Xiwang Mu islands.

MT. MAAT: 0 N, 195 E

an isolated, equatorial peak in east Aphrodite. Maat is as tall as Everest, but not Himalayan in the least. "Photos" of Maat have become emblematic of Venus, but the classic radar image is vertically stretched. Maat is really a broad shield volcano much like Hawaii, and its heights form a wide ecological island, from a central icecap (one of the few on Venus) through an altiplano belt, then evergreen highlands, dropping into rain forest in the west, prairie in the north, and rainshadow deserts in the southeast. A wide ring round the mountain is ideal gorilla habitat.

MacDonald: 30 N, 120 E

An island over 600 km wide in the Niobe Ocean. MacDonald's the largest, northernmost and loneliest of the the Gegute chain. Also the most fertile: the southern Gegutes are off the Hassttse-baad Desert, and resemble Arizona. MacDonald, shaped like a pelican in profile, is a tessera field--a two-level maze of deep, winding, densely forested canyons below open-wooded mesas, as steep and surreal as a Roadrunner cartoon. But clouds and ferns cling to the cliffs, small storms bring rainbows. Polynesian coral reefs stretch up to 250 km offshore, especially in the northeast. The small Una Is. lead northwest from MacDonald to the Akkruvas and eventually Tellus and Ishtar. To the southeast, over a 20-km sound, is similar Vallija, 190 km long. Nintu, a bit drier, is 200 km south; the "Arizona" Gegutes lie beyond.

Madderakka Hole: 10 N, 318 E

A tropical "atoll" 200 km wide in the central Navka Islands, off Phoebe. The easiest flyway is north along the Tingoi Islands from Var. Madderakka is a sunken corona with a rim too low to form arcuate islands, just a few reefs. Its steep inner walls are spectacular vertical coral gardens; but Madderakka's better known for its underwater concerts, as the circular walls create echoes that make cetaceans hallucinate. They migrate here from all over Venus to get stoned on music. On dark nights, other, shadier events take place in the arena: squid wrestling, between sperm whales and giant squid from the blue hole's depths. Fatalities are rare today but the sport is still controversial.

Madeleine Bay, Madeleine Island: 5 S, 295 E

The nearly landlocked north end of Dzerassa Bay separating East and West Phoebe, reaching almost to the equator. Ringed by mountains casting rainshadows, Madeleine Bay resembles the Red Sea on Earth, with rich coral reefs but desert shores, especially in the west where the Devana Mountains drop sharply into the sea. The east shore is gentler and merely semi-arid--grass and scrub hills. Steep Madeleine Island and Boye Peninsula bound the bay on its south side.

Cape Madron: 30 N, 33 E

A narrow cape running southeast for 360 km, Cape Madron is southern tip of Kruchina, in the Bereghinya Sea south of Ishtar. North of the cape are Kruchina's central Ilmatar Mts. Cape Madron is rugged, but its slopes and cliffs are buried in lush Megazoic rainforest--like everything else on Kruchina. South of the cape are the Vako-nana Islands--the flyway to the rest of Venus.

Magdalena Island: 10 S, 50 E

Magdalena's just off the coast of Manatum (far western Aphrodite). It's a small, pleasant, subtropical island, just a wooded ridge 30 km long rising from a warm, shallow sea. South of Magdalena is its big sister, Bathsheba. Magdalena's listed only because it's one of very few places in Manatum that even has a name. Magdalena and Nabuzana, an island just to the north, lie off an area the size of Germany with no officially named features--I've dubbed it Disani after a corona on its far edge.

Mt Malibran: 18 S, 224 E

A volcano at one of the elbows in the long Onenhste Isthmus, west of Chondi and just off southeast Aphrodite. Malibran is a neat Fuji-like cone, though not nearly as tall. To its north is Veleda Sound; to the south, the Gulf of Felicia. Malibran's north shore is dry and grassy, but the south side has a more maritime climate, with some trees along streambeds. The heights are pine forest.

Lake Maltby, Maltby Highlands: 28 S, 125 E

The Maltby Highlands are in northwest Artemis, the giant corona forming south Aphrodite. The plateau isn't strictly flat--hills in the east, mostly dry open woods, drop gradually to a semi-arid prairie basin in the west, cupping, shallow Lake Maltby, over 400 km across. To the north are huge Lake Quilla and even bigger Lake Virava, to the south, the even larger complex of Lakes Veronica and Britomartis. Without the Great Lakes, the region would likely be desert. To the west is the much rainier country of Cape Juno.

Cape Mama-Allpa: 28 S, 30 E

A narrow cape reaching over 600 km west from the mainland of Umay-Ene, largest of the Alpha Islands. It's pronounced "Mama, I Pa!" or "Mama-Azhpa" or (local dialect) "Mommy Hushpup." (She's a Peruvian harvest goddess, by the way.) The cape is a spur of the Mama-Allpa Hills just north of Kalombo Gulf. Warm and green, but not as steamy as the Lada Archipelago to the south. The drop-off is steep on the south side and the tip, almost a continental slope--at least by Venus's shallow standards.

Mamu Hole: 21 S, 217 E

A flooded craterlike corona forming a blue hole 250 km wide, off southeast Aphrodite, just below Onenhste Isthmus west of Chondi. Mamu resembles an atoll but with a "lagoon" much deeper than the ocean around it. Arcuate islands ring the hole; their inner faces are cliffs famous for their coral gardens. North of Mamu, two long sandy promontories line a small chasma-trench leading 400 km to Cape Mbokomu, just off Aphrodite; to the northwest, Onenhste Corona forms a low near-island linked by ridges to Mbokomu and Chondi to the east. To the south and west is the Wawalag Sea. The islets of Mamu are dry and grassy, like the sandy barrier islands of America's east coast. Horse heaven, but fresh water is scarce, limiting tourism.

MANATUM: 10 S, 65 E

the western end of Aphrodite--the claws or jaws of its scorpion-shape, and often nicknamed The Jaws. Most of Manatum is heavily tesserated--a grid of regular mesas and ridges. The Hestia Range forms the northern jaw, the lower Manatum Range the south jaw, which ends in Cape Recambier sheltering Rae Bay. ; between the jaws is Curie Gulf and very complex tongue, the Disani Peninsula and Cape Salus. Manatum's warm, fertile, but with abrupt red cliffs everywhere--a two-level forest.

Mansfield Patera, Lake Mansfield: 29 N, 228 E

Mansfield Patera is a a flooded volcanic crater about 60 km wide on the east shore of Ulfrun (eastern Aphrodite). The volcano's at the end of a curving range of hills, a spur of the Fea Fossae holding Lake Fea just to the west. Offshore are the Pchilka Islands.

Manzan-Gurme Island: 36 N, 2 E

An island midway between Ishtar and Eistla, Manzan-Gurme, 120 km long and 80 wide, is a lozenge of hot, dense, steamy rainforest, some of the tallest on Venus, rivaling Tellus itself. The exuberant life of the high canopy is spectacular and deserves more visitors, but Manzan-Gurme is isolated--most visitors reaching it are in transit, thoroughly exhausted, and tend to stay near the beaches. In a way this has worked out well--the island's interior is nearly untouched.

Manzolini Islands: 25 N, 95 E

A small group southeast of Tellus in the Niobe Sea, the Manzolinis contain six islands from 50 to 120 km long, covered in open subtropical woods. Small coral reefs ring the islands. The western two isles appear to be halves of a flooded caldera-rim, and may look like Greece's Santorini, with central cliffs (though much greener than Greece). Due south of it is Li Qingzhao, often just called Li, a single great peak rising from the sea. Just to the north rise the far larger Shimtis, a landmass 1200 km long. To the southeast lies a blue hole, Maya Hole. Scattered islets lead 400 km due east to the lonely Metra Islands.

Marake Islands: 57 N, 220 E

The Marakes are a scattered group of islands off the north tip of the Iris Peninsula on Ulfrun (east Aphrodite). Like the peninsula, the islands are smothered in rainforest much denser than the Amazon. To the east in the Kabel Sea are the jungly Virilis Islands and Ananke.

Maram Mts.: 9 S, 220 E

A high corona in southeast Aphrodite, near where Parga Chasma comes ashore at Cape Ledoux. The long stretch of barrier islands, bays and points to the west of the peak is sometimes called the Maram Coast. Warm dry-grass plains, with a few trees along the rare streams, the Maram Coast is lonely country, but not as dry as the Jokwa Desert west of it. The corona itself, though, is high enough to sustain dense pine forest.

Marere Is.: 20 N, 60 E

The Marere Islands are high points of the same ridge creating Lemkechen, north of Manatum (west Aphrodite). The Mareres snake west 5-600 km from the Lemkechen mainland. They're low but rough. They're little visited since they're a dead end--it's 800 km or more to Bell, and 700 to Jasmin, the nearest island flanking the great drowned crater of Mead.

Lake Marie, Marie Hills: 23 S, 232 E

Lake Marie is in the Forest of Thaukhud, in southern Chondi. A narrow north-south lake 250 km long, Marie just looks like a normal chasma lake. But it's much shallower, just as the low ridges and coronas of Thaukhud are gentler than most chasma formations--an old, tired, Appalachian sort of chasma, perhaps. The lake drains west into Inken Sound. Marie has a little sister to the south, Lake Eileen, and two very big sisters to the north: Lakes Chondi and Darlene. To the west are the low Ndoi Hills, a small corona; to the east, the much higher triangle of the Marie Hills.

Marie-Jeanne Canyons: 18-21 N, 356-359 E

The Marie-Jeanne Canyons are in southern Eistla. Formed from lava flows from Mt Gula, this skein of winding canyons rivals Yosemite in places, though it's lower, drier and made of rough lava rock: born of fire not ice. Small wooded streams run south along the canyon floors today. The climate and flora are Mediterranean.

Lake Mariko: 22 S, 135 E

Lake Mariko is the northeast edge of Artemis, the giant corona forming south Aphrodite. The lake, some 8-900 km long and up to 100 wide, fills the floor of the northeast end of Artemis Chasma, below the snowy Yamile Mts. To the west is similar Lake Quilla, to the south, Ivne Crater on the shore of the even larger complex of Lake Britomartis, largest on Venus. Without the Great Lakes, the region would likely be desert. Over the eastern range from Mariko are the dry Onissya Steppes; northeast, past the head of Diana Chasma, is grim Veden-Emma Desert. Due north are the Jurnaisat Mts, part of the Thetis Highlands. These rift-lakes are cut off from sea-storms, but the highlands are wooded and send down streams to feed the lakes, which are so big they create their own rain.

Marzyana Plain: 50 S, 60 E

A jungle plain 400 km wide on the north coast of East Lada, below the Kuldurok Mts, which rise abruptly, in Kuldurok Scarp. It's hot, rainy, and densely forested--even the scarp. South of Marzyana Plain is the first of the Xaratanga Lakes, a cluster of long narrow chasma-lakes running east 700 km or more. East of the plain lies the great Zimcerla Peninsula.

Lake Mate: 51 N, 37 E

Mate (MAH-teh) is a long east-west lake in southeast Ishtar, just north of the Laima Mts. Half a dozen deep chasmas cut through the steep ridgelike tessera in this region--cliff-lined valleys full of marshes and lakes. Lake Mate is the southernmost, and probably the largest--nearly the size of Lake Michigan. It has a northern twin, Lake Mezas; together they drain west into Belisama Gulf. East of Mezas and north of Mate are the other great chasmas: Baba Yaga, whose name is often used for the whole region, coastal Mots Chasma, probably the largest, and Kozha-Ava Chasma, with two large lakes in its depths.

Mawu Island: 30 N, 240 E

a drowned corona that forms an island as big as Sicily. Mawu is west of Asteria and north of Hecate Island. Mawu is open forest with a few meadows. The climate's warm, mild, and maritime.

MAXWELL MTS: 67 N, 0 E

a steep range in western Ishtar. The highest mountains on Venus, about 11 km above sea level, and one of the few ranges now heavily glaciated. It's worth comparing the heights of Maxwell to Everest--the air pressure even at Maxwell's summit is above Earth-normal, though the Cytheran atmosphere contains less oxygen overall, so the partial pressure of oxygen is low, if not as deadly as Everest. But it illustrates how a dense atmosphere and lower gravity combine to create a biosphere noticeably thicker than Earth's. The same thing happens on Mars, of course, but it's countered by thin air and harsh verticality. On Venus, the result is a nearly unbroken biosphere--few deserts, a few tiny glaciers, but no Saharas, Tibets, Greenlands, or Antarcticas.

Maya Hole: 22 N, 98 E

Maya, a sunken corona, forms a deep blue hole 160 km wide in the shallow Niobe Ocean, 1000 km east of Ereshkigal and 500 km south of Shimti. A twin to the north, Metra Corona, breaks the surface, forming arcuate islands.

Lake Mayauel: 28 S, 155 E

S-shaped Lake Mayauel is near the south coast of Aphrodite, around 1200 km east of Artemis. Mayauel is 450 km long and only 100 wide, a classic chasma lake--except there's no chasma, just gentle hills. 400 km to the east is huge Lake Vishera, and 400 west is even larger Lake Onissya. The coastal strip, between the lake and the Aino Sea, is a mix of woods and meadows, but inland, the land grows scrubby and dry, rising to ridges that are the bent-back tail end of Dali Chasma, where it twists around the hills of Bona Carona. (No, I don't make these names up).

Cape Mbokomu: 15 S, 212 E

a hilly corona some 300 km across, at the tip of long Cape Onenhste, west of Chondi and just off southeast Aphrodite. Between Mbokomu and the mainland lies a long winding strait: Veleda Sound. Mbokomu's north shore is dry and grassy, but the south side has a more maritime climate, with some trees along streambeds. A small chasma creates twin sandspits covered in dune-grass, leading 150 km south to a blue hole ringed by islets. The eastern of these widens into a near-island, Ohenhste Corona, from which a ridge extends on east to Mt Malibran and beyond.

Mead Crater: 10 N, 59 E

Mead is off Cape Romola (the eastern tip of Pavlova in the Eistla Archipelago). Mead is an impact crater some 250 km wide, probably the largest on Venus, though it's flooded; the floor is a blue hole up to a kilometer deep. On Mars or Luna, such a crater would have walls miles high; but the heat of Old Venus made them sag over time, and today the rim's mostly underwater. On the north side, triangular Jasmin Island is 100 km long and wide; the other rim-islands are mere slivers a few km wide. To the southeast of Mead are the Hestia Mts in Aphrodite; the Marere Islands dot the sea to the north, and to the west is the huge Terra of Pavlova.

Medeina Island: 45 N, 95 E

A long spidery five-armed island 450 km long, just east of Tellus. The channel between is narrow but deep, for it's Medeina Chasma--island and coast are the ridges surrounding it. Medeina Chasma creates smaller islands along much of Tellus's east coast. The Medeina area is lush rainforest. Inland are the Khatun Mts, pocked with shallow lava-bed lakes; 500 km further offshore to the east are Hiei Chu and the Erkeleys .

Medhavi Bay: 24 S, 44 E

A curving bay 400 km long and 100 wide, Medhavi Bay is a mirror-image of Lake Michigan. But warmer--it's on Umay-Ene, largest of the Alpha Islands. Subtropical forest lines the shore, stretching unbroken to the west across broad, low Cape Michelle; to the north and east is the spine of Cape Juksakka.

Lake Meiboia: 45 S, 285 E

A lake 300 km long in southern Themis, one of the Low Lakes, a chain of three great lakes. Meiboia is the smallest, the westernmost, and the highest; it drains into Lake Nzambi which in turn feeds Lake Siduri. Meiboia's shores are Megazoic rainforest.

Mt Melia, Melia Bay, Melia Strait: 61 N, 115 E

Mt. Melia is the highest point on Tethus, a terra (island over a million square km) east of Ishtar. Melia's ridge divides the subtropical forest of the south from the cooler, drier north; the peak sees nightly frost, and occasional snow. Tethus's backbone is a chain of hilly coronas; Mt. Melia stands at the arc's center, between the Nightingale Hills, and wide Cape Fakahotu in the southwest. Melia Bay, below the mountain, is a shallow three-lobed bay 200 km wide, separating Tethus from Meskhent, another great terra to the north and west, entirely in the Mediterranean zone. The Melia Straits narrow to only 20 km wide at two points.

Melina Sea: 60-75 S, 285-300 E

Melina is a triangular sea 1000 km wide, between Neringa and Lada. Its climate is like the Riviera--well, a bit cooler. In the south, a single snowcapped volcano rises from the sea, looking like an Aleutian island on a leash: Mt Neringa. The leash is zigazag Cape Spidele, hundreds of km long, a narrow cliffed zigzag of rock. In the center Melina narrows and the Kristina Islands link Neringa to Cape Kamui on Lada. 300 km north of the Kristinas are a larger chain, the Jane Islands. Neringa's nearly polar, so the climate's cool for Venus. The foggy coastal valleys support redwoods, and the mid-sea ridges force deep water up, so Melina teems with life--rich kelp forests line the shores.

Lake Mem-Loimis: 10 N, 205 E

A lake in east Aphrodite about the size of Lake Superior, Mem-Loimis is somewhat overshadowed by the far bigger Lake Fossey over the Ozza Mts to the west, at the foot of Mt. Maat. The shores of Mem-Loimis are dry veldt below sparsely wooded ridges radiating from the Ozza range. Pine-topped Mt. Mem-Loimis is to the east, on the shore of Zewana Sound.

Menat: 25 S, 342 E

Menat Island is the east end of the rise that creates Dione. Menat's a goose shape 400 km long in the northern Lavinia Sea--a goose with a long neck curving toward Aglaonice to the west. The land's a maze of low, winding ridges called undae, mostly wooded. North of the neck, more ridges break the surface, forming islets with winding channels between them: the Goslings. Menat's a hub for the flyways between Dione and Themis in the west and Alpha in the east. Due north past the Goslings, and next on the flyway, is the atoll-like Qetesh Hole.

Meni Islands: 48 N, 75 E

an east-west island chain 1600 km long, north of Tellus, in the Leda Sea. The largest island is huge sinuous Ytunde, 600 km long, shaped like a slender flying dragon. Nana, half as long, resembles a crawling man. A thousand lesser islands surround them in a chaotic halo. All are lush rainforest; mangroves wade into the shallow seas, ringed by coral reefs. To the north are the equally rainy Dekla Islands.

Lake Merian: 35 N, 77 E

The largest lake in eastern Tellus, Lake Merian is a peanut-shape 240 km long and 120 wide. It's an old lava pool whose flat bottom is shallow enough for "mangroves" to root; so this odd lake is nearly invisible, seeming to be a jungle plain from a distance. Only when flying over the lake does the water glint through the gaps, a hundred meters under the canopy. The hills around the lake are mostly tessera, like the convolutions of a brain wrapped in Amazonian green. Lake Merian drains south into S-shaped Kottravey Chasma; the Kottravey River is the longest on Tellus. To the west is a region of huge nameless fjords, then Olwen Bay. To the north is Eliot Patera; to the east, the hills gradually heighten into the Khatun Mountains, with still greater lava-bed lakes between ranges.

Merit: 13 N, 117 E

A cliff-walled island 160 km wide in the Gegute Is., off Thetis in central Aphrodite. Merit and its twin, Ptah, are separated by a diagonal knife-slice--cliff-walled, straight as a laser, and only a few km wide. Both isles are dry, with grassy mesas and wooded canyons. Though they're not tall, cliffs abound--this is tessera country. To the northeast is Ptah, due north is long sinuous Allatu. East is hilly Bhumiya and west, Adzoba

Cape Mertseger: 38 S, 268 E

The western tip of Themis, shaped like a unicorn's nodding head and neck. The cape's 400 km long and up to 200 wide. On its north side is Sabin Bay, which nearly cuts off Themis from the subcontinent of Parga. Cape Mertseger, like all western Themis, is Megazoic rainforest--tree-ferns cling to the cliffs right down to the water.

MESKHENT: 68 N, 100 E

A triangular land larger than Borneo, east of Ishtar. In the narrower north are low Mediterranean hills and grassy coastal plains with shallow streams and marshes. In the center are the higher, greener Tusholi Hills. South of Tusholi, the long Gabie Cliffs bisect the island; beyond is a plateau covered in both mesa-like tessera and pit-lakes typical of "stringy" tessera, an unusual mix. The climate on the south coast is subtropical--rather Mexican. To the west of Meskhent is the Sea of Ops, to the south, Fakahotu Sound, to the southeast, the huge terra of Tethus, and to the east, Earhart Bay.

METIS: 73 N, 255 E

a corona forming a great island west of Ishtar, in the far north. Metis is the size of Spain, and a bit similar, with a dry central plateau ranging from steppe to open woods in the mountains, and warmer, wetter coastal valleys, quite rainy in the south. Mt Ale (rhymes with Malay, not hail) is the highest point; it's on the southeast coast.

Metra Islands: 25 N, 98 E

A small group in the Niobe Sea southeast of Tellus, the Metras are concentric arcuate islands up to 80 km long but only 5-10 wide. Some are just crescent-shaped coral reefs, but the larger islands have open woods and permanent streams. The climate's mild. The Metras are the ridge-tops of a corona neck-deep in the sea. A second corona due south, Maya Hole, appears to be a blue hole with few nor no islands at all. 400 km west are the small Manzolini Islands; 250 km northwest rise the Shimti Tessera, a New Zealand-like archipelago 1200 km long.

Lake Mezas: 54 N, 32 E

Mezas is a long north-south lake in southeast Ishtar, just east of the Ausra Mts. Ausra and Mezas have upside-down circumflexes on the S and the Z, but such accents turn to garbage on a lot of browsers, so let's spell them phonetically, as Aushra and Mezhas. Say "Ow!-shra" and "Measures." OK, you got it. Several deep chasmas cut through the steep ridgelike tessera in this region--cliff-lined valleys full of marshes and lakes. Lake Mezhas is one of the two biggest--nearly the size of Lake Michigan. With its southern twin, Lake Mate, it drains west into Belisama Gulf. East of Mezas/Mezhas are more huge chasmas: Baba Yaga (whose name is used for the whole region on older maps), coastal Mots Chasma (the largest), and Kozha-Ava Chasma with two large lakes in its depths.

Cape Michelle: 23 S, 42 E

Cape Michelle is a broad peninsula 250 km wide and long in north Umay-Ene, largest of the Alpha Islands. The cape is a warm hardwood forest, flat with a few low hills. To the east is Medhavi Bay; to the west, Michelle Bay, then Cape Minn-Anni.

MT MIELIKKI, MIELIKKI SOUND: 25 S, 275 E

Mielikki Sound, 1000 km long, divides Phoebe and Parga. Its mouth, Ellen Strait, opens on the Dzerassa Sea. Mt. Mielikki stands on the south shore--a shield volcano hundreds of km across. This coast is a mixture of woods and prairies, with moderate rainfall and mild temperatures.

Cape Minn-Anni: 22 S, 35 E

A cape 200 km long and the archipelago offshore, in northwest Umay-Ene, largest of the Alpha Island. Minn-Anni Island, by far the largest and furthest out, is a low, green diamond 160 km long. Both cape and islands are mostly tesserated--a regular grid of grassy mesas and shady, wooded canyons. To the east are flat forested plains around Michelle Bay and Cape Michelle; to the south, similar warm low woods around Scarpellini Bay.

Mirabeau Bay: 2 N, 285 E

The northeast shore of Phoebe runs fairly straight for 2000 km between Cape Toklas and Cape Devana, where it turns sharply northwest. Mirabeau Bay is the triangular gulf formed in the elbow, about 400 km wide. It's the greenest part of north Phoebe, catching all the rains off Hinemoa Gulf.

Mnemosyne Islands: 65 N, 280 E

a swarm of islands between Metis and Ishtar. The largest is Feronia, a fish-hook 500 km long. The southernmost islets are temperate (warm) rainforest; the islands cool and dry steadily to the north, ending with a group northeast of Metis that's foggy, cool, mild--quite San Franciscan.

Moira: 58 N, 310 E

Moira, a hilly wedge over 300 km long and 200 wide, is the largest of the Ut Islands off southwest Ishtar. Moira's just north of the torrid zone, so it's rainy, and densely forested--Douglas fir and coast redwoods. The Ut Islands shelter a sound 1500 km long behind them; this coast, while drier than Moira, is still lush.

Molpe Islands: 72-81 N, 190 E

The Molpes reach almost to the north pole. They're part of the Surupa Archipelago west of Ishtar. Molpe is 360 km long--the north is craterlike, with an arcuate cape and central island, both patchworks of pine and dry meadows--often hidden by the region's notorious fogs. The south is wider--low oak hills framing a long sound much like San Francisco Bay. West of Molpe is Lukelong, 290 km long but only 50 wide, a winding wooded ridge--redwoods on the west, oak savanna on the east. A chain of islets leads north to Yumyn-udyr, a low foggy island 75 km across--the northernmost land on Venus. To the west are the smaller Dickinson Islands; to the east, huge Surupa and Schumann-Heinke. Despite their polar latitude, the Molpes never freeze--this is Venus, after all! Many have huge seal- and bird-rookeries. Few permanent residents, but many transients--travelers from Tethus to Metis and northern Ulfrun.

Montez Promontories: 15 N, 263 E

Twin capes, Cape Lola and Cape Montez, each about 80 km long, thrusting from Asteria (western Beta) into Hinemoa Gulf. The names refer to dancer Lola Montez; presumably, from orbit, they looked like dancing legs. Both capes are steep, rocky ridges narrowing to a couple of miles in spots, covered in aromatic chaparral and salt-adapted flowers. The land feels a bit like the French Riviera. In place of the Maritime Alps are the ridgy heights of the Baranamtarra Mountains, harvesting the sparse rains of Hinemoa and sending down short, fierce streams. The Montez Capes are a jumping-off place for the Isle of Aruru.

Lake Morongo: 25 S, 107 E

A shallow, marshy inland sea, 350 km long and 150 wide, in southwest Aphrodite, north of Cape Juno, west of Artemis. Morongo is an oasis in the dry Viriplaca Basin--800 km of wide, dry, grassy plains. Aside from lakeshore thickets, there isn't a tree in sight. Birds, however, nest here by the millions. The Morongo River, one of Venus's longest, drains the Viriplaca Basin into the lake, then pours west from the lake through the only gap in the rugged Boszorkany Dorsa to reach the Tahmina Sea.

The Isle of Morrigan: 54 S, 317 E

Morrigan is 200 km long, off Cape Kamui, the western tip of Lada. Morrigan is narrow and roughly Y-shaped, with a blue hole offshore between the arms of the Y. From Morrigan, a line of islets leads west to Neringa. The island is moderately rainy, sometimes foggy, mild to cool but never cold, supporting redwoods in coastal valleys, meadows studded with oaks inland, and pine forests at higher elevations. Kelp forests fill the shallows, and the deeps of the blue hole harbor whales and giant squid.

Morrigan Sound and Cape Morrigan: 47 S, 325 E

from the Isle of Morrigan, a long ridge curves north under the Lavinia Sea toward Dione. The ridge isn't officially called a chasma, but it should be: it splits into twin ridges flanking a trench, and when it hits land in Hathor it forms Morrigan Sound, a classic chasma-bay just 60 km wide but 450 long, cutting off a long strip of Hathor's rugged east coast--Cape Morrigan, as big as the bay. There are parallel lakes and ridges on the Oma Peninsula to the east, associated volcanoes (Mt Hathor itself, and Rakapilo Island)--all the classic signs of a spreading chasma.

Cape Mosaido, Mosaido Bay and Strait: 20 N, 79 E

Cape Mosaido, 200 km long, is the eastern tip of Lemkechen, the huge island off northwest Aphrodite. The cape is the flyway to Kunhild. The bight on the south side of the cape is called Mosaido Bay. Turbulent Mosaido Strait is on its south side, separating Lemkechen from the Unelanuhi Peninsula to the east. The strait's about 90 km wide with an island halfway across.

Mots Chasma: 54 N, 45 E

Mots is a long east-west rift in east Ishtar, cutting through the steep ridgelike tessera in this region. It's the largest of many cliff-lined, winding canyons, full of marshes and lakes: to the north is long Kozha-Ava Chasma, with two large lakes in its depths. To the south is Baba Yaga, whose name is often used for the whole region, and then Lake Mate in the southernmost chasma--nearly the size of Lake Michigan. To the west is the only chasma running north-south: Mezas, with an equally huge lake.

Mowatt Island: 13 S, 291 E

An impact crater that happened to hit an undersea ridge, the narrows at the mouth of Dzerassa Bay separating East and West Phoebe, creating a ring-shaped island, with a central lake. Mowatt's about 80 km wide and semi-arid, mostly prairie except alond the lakeshore.

MUGAZO GULF: 63 S, 70 E

a shallow bay 1000 km wide, dotted with islands, and shaped like a stubby hand with many finger-fjords. Mugazo Gulf is on the south shore of East Lada and floods the heart of it; one western thumb of the gulf nearly links with the Aino Sea, cutting East Lada in two. The isles and shores of the gulf resemble Italy: fertile, moderately rainy, mild temperatures. A few northern bays have subtropical rainforest; most have open woods; the mouth of the gulf, in the south, has fields and scattered oaks.

Mt. Muru, Lake Muru: 8 S, 306 E

A steep volcanic cone in southeast Phoebe. To the east are the Aleksota Mts; to the south, Lake Muru, 60 km wide and 200 long, a shallow lake with mini-fjords at the west end where the Perunitsa Fossae run into the lake. To the north is Cape Muru, a broad hilly savana; offshore are the Laufey Islands. Mt Muru has a southern twin across the lake: Mt. Ilga. Both peaks are high enough to see night frost and even occasional snows.

Lake Muta: 54 N, 2 E

Muta is the biggest lake in southern Ishtar, 500 km long and up to 300 wide. It's named for Mt. Muta near its mouth (blocking it in fact, creating the lake). Muta is shallow, irregular, reedy and swampy, full of islands--though unlike the Everglades it resembles, the islands are bedrock and often hilly. The climate's warm and rainy, with huge tropical hardwoods. Southeast is Cape Ashnan. Due south are the Bahet Hills, and then three-headed Cape Ariadne, the southern tip of Ishtar. East is Nepret Ridge dividing Lake Muta from its equally boggy sister, Lake Onatah.

Cape Mykh-Imi: 73 S, 90 E

The southern tip of East Lada, this blunt peninsula around 400 km long and wide resembles Central California, with touches of Italy: a patchwork of grassy hills and oak and vineyards and olive groves inland, while redwoods line the south coast. New Frisco Bay, at the south tip, may lack the original's famous bridges, but does have the look and the climate--right down to the fog.

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