Plato Home

Move your mouse over the picture to see the names of some other features.

Plato is a large, circular feature 104 Km in diameter. It is some 3,500 million years old and is situated on the northern edge of the Mare Imbrium. It has a very flat floor which contains many very small craters only a few of which are visible in this image.
This picture was taken with a ToUcam attached to my 254mm LX200 with a X2 adaptor lens on 1st March 2004, a night of exceptional seeing, when the Moon was 9.7 days old.
Small craters are named after a nearby large crater. Here you can see Plato A, B, C, and D.

Date and Time: 1st March 2004 21:41 UT
Camera: ToUcam 740K
Telescope: LX200 with X2 lens
Capture: K3CCDTools. High gamma, 1/50", 0% gain, 314 frames
Processing: Registax. 175 frames stacked. Wavelet 2-4 = 5, step = 2
And here we see a wider view of Plato in its setting. To its east (right) are the Lunar Alps with the remarkable Alpine Valley;  to its south is the Mare Imbrium and, to its north is the Mare Frigoris.
The scale markers are approximately 100 Km north and east.
This picture was taken with a ToUcam attached to my ETX125 on 15th July 2005, when the Moon was 8.5 days old.


Date and Time: 15th July 2005 18:30 UT
Camera: ToUcam 740K
Telescope: ETX125 with IR-pass filter
Capture: K3CCDTools. Low gamma, 1/25", 15% gain, 498 frames
Processing: Registax. 296 frames stacked. Wavelet 1-3 = 10, contrast 180, brightness -76
Plato This is the same view as above, taken at almost the same phase but 11 months later.  The only thing of extra interest is that this picture was taken with my 254-mm LX200.  Not only does this have a greater aperture but also a somewhat longer focal length (2540 mm compared to 1900 mm) which accounts for the larger scale of the picture.  However, does the extra quality in the picture warrant the extra aperture (a factor of 2) and the extra cost (a factor of 3)?  Of course there are other factors to be taken into consideration.  (The enhancement of this image is not as great as the earlier one, but the same processing looks grossly overdone.)
The scale markers are approximately 100 Km north and east.
This picture was taken with a ToUcam attached to my LX200 on 5th June 2006, when the Moon was 9.0 days old.


Date and Time: 5th June 2006 17:51 UT
Camera: ToUcam 740K
Telescope: LX200 with IR-pass filter
Capture: K3CCDTools. Low gamma, 1/33", 22% gain, 609 frames
Processing: Registax. 122 frames stacked. Wavelet 1-2 = 10, contrast 180, brightness -76
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