Observation 338
Plato, Lunar Feature
| Session: | Looking over the lunar landscape |
| Location: | Franklin Street, Paducah, KY |
| Seeing: | 6 out of 10 |
| Limit Mag: | 4.5 |
| Weather: | Occasional steady images [45°F], light breeze |
Thursday February 21, 2002 01:19 UT
Plato lies at the northwestern end of the Montes Alpes mountain chain. In the 114mm reflector at 121x with the 7.5mm eyepiece, Plato’s most prominent feature is the dark gray color of the crater floor, which stands out against the color of the surrounding lunar surface. At 182x in the 10mm/Barlow combination, the crater floor appears smooth with no central spire. In this view, with Plato close to the terminator, the shadow from the eastern wall extended across nearly three-quarters of the crater floor. The shadow consists of three peaks, one thin peak on the southern side, and wider peaks in the center and on the northern side.
