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Plato (crater)
Encyclopedia
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
impact crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
on the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. It is located on the northeastern shore of the Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium, Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon and one of the larger craters in the Solar System. Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago...
, at the western extremity of the Montes Alpes
Montes Alpes
Montes Alpes is a mountain range in the northern part of the Moon's near side. It was named after the Alps in Europe.This range forms the northeastern border of the Mare Imbrium lunar mare. To the west of the range is the level and nearly featureless mare, while on the eastern face is a more rugged...
mountain range. In the mare to the south are several rises collectively named the Montes Teneriffe
Montes Teneriffe
Montes Teneriffe is a range on the northern part of the Moon's near side. It was named after Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands.This range is located in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium, to the southwest of the crater Plato. The Montes Teneriffe lie within a diameter of about 110 kilometers,...
. To the north lies the wide stretch of the Mare Frigoris
Mare Frigoris
Mare Frigoris is a lunar mare located just north of Mare Imbrium, and stretches east to north of Mare Serenitatis. The mare is in the outer rings of the Procellarum basin...
. East of the crater, among the Montes Alpes
Montes Alpes
Montes Alpes is a mountain range in the northern part of the Moon's near side. It was named after the Alps in Europe.This range forms the northeastern border of the Mare Imbrium lunar mare. To the west of the range is the level and nearly featureless mare, while on the eastern face is a more rugged...
, are several rille
Rille
Rille is typically used to describe any of the long, narrow depressions in the lunar surface that resemble channels. Typically a rille can be up to several kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers in length...
s collectively named the Rimae Plato.
The age of Plato is about 3.84 billion years, only slightly younger than the Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium, Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon and one of the larger craters in the Solar System. Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago...
to the south. The rim is irregular with 2-km-tall jagged peaks that project prominent shadows across the crater floor when the sun is at a low angle. Sections of the inner wall display signs of past slumping, most notably a large triangular slide along the western side. The rim of Plato is circular, but from the Earth it appears oval due to foreshortening.
The flat floor of Plato has a relatively low albedo
Albedo
Albedo , or reflection coefficient, is the diffuse reflectivity or reflecting power of a surface. It is defined as the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to incident radiation upon it...
, making it appear dark in comparison to the surrounding rugged terrain. The floor is free of significant impact craters and lacks a central peak. However there are a few small craterlets scattered across the floor.
Plato has developed a reputation for transient lunar phenomena
Transient lunar phenomenon
A transient lunar phenomenon , or lunar transient phenomenon , is a short-lived light, color, or change in appearance on the lunar surface....
, including flashes of light, unusual colour patterns, and areas of hazy visibility. These anomalies are likely a result of seeing conditions, combined with the effects of different illumination angles of the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
.
The 17th-century astronomer Ryan Dale called this feature the 'Greater Black Lake'.
Satellite craters
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Plato.| Plato | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | 53.0° N | 17.2° W | 13 km |
| C | 53.2° N | 19.4° W | 10 km |
| D | 49.6° N | 14.5° W | 10 km |
| E | 49.7° N | 16.2° W | 7 km |
| F | 51.7° N | 17.4° W | 7 km |
| G | 52.1° N | 6.3° W | 8 km |
| H | 55.1° N | 2.0° W | 11 km |
| J | 49.0° N | 4.6° W | 8 km |
| K | 46.8° N | 3.3° W | 6 km |
| KA | 46.8° N | 3.6° W | 6 km |
| L | 51.6° N | 4.3° W | 10 km |
| M | 53.1° N | 15.4° W | 8 km |
| O | 52.3° N | 15.4° W | 9 km |
| P | 51.5° N | 15.2° W | 8 km |
| Q | 54.5° N | 4.8° W | 8 km |
| R | 53.8° N | 18.3° W | 6 km |
| S | 53.8° N | 14.9° W | 6 km |
| T | 54.5° N | 11.2° W | 8 km |
| U | 49.6° N | 7.4° W | 6 km |
| V | 55.8° N | 7.4° W | 6 km |
| W | 57.2° N | 17.8° W | 4 km |
| X | 50.1° N | 13.8° W | 5 km |
| Y | 53.1° N | 16.3° W | 10 km |
The following craters have been renamed by the IAU
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...
:
- Plato A — See Bliss (crater)Bliss (crater)Bliss is small lunar impact crater that is located just to the west of the dark-floored crater Plato. It lies in a region of continental terrain between Mare Imbrium to the south and Mare Frigoris to the north...
.
Plato in fiction
The crater Plato is the location of an observatory in Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's novel Earthlight
Earthlight
Earthlight is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, published in 1955. It is an expansion to novel length of a short story that he had published four years earlier.-Overview:...
(1955) and of Moonbase Alpha
Moonbase Alpha
Moonbase Alpha is a fictional moon base and the main setting in the science fiction television series Space: 1999.-Moonbase Alpha:Located in the Moon crater Plato and constructed out of quarried rock and ores, Moonbase Alpha is four kilometres in diameter and extends up to one kilometre in areas...
in the science-fiction TV series Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
.
Crater Plato is the home crater of Matthew Looney
Matthew Looney
Matthew Looney is the title character in a series of four science fiction books for children by Jerome Beatty Jr . Matthew's sister Maria Looney is the title character in Beatty's three subsequent books...
and Maria Looney, protagonists of the Looney series of children's books set on the Moon, written by Jerome Beatty.