ETX 90RA; Plato : 23/12/01/16:15h UT

Sent:	Sunday, December 23, 2001 14:33:28
From:	martyn@starmail.co.za (martyn)
This (23 December 2001) evening I had a "quick" look at the crater
Plato, on the Moon. Included is a pic of the drawings I made of what I
saw.

Temperature was -2 degrees C, it was very windy so the seeing was very
poor. Nevertheless, I inserted the SP 6.4mm in my ETX 90RA to bring the
shadow forward to be able to see it's shape better. It did work in spite
of the poor seeing. Focusing is then a bit difficult as many of you will
appreciate, so I used a clothing/washing pin on the focuser for precise
focus control.

Plato was right on the terminator. It's Western rim brightly lit, rising
above the pre-dawn and the lit portion of it's floor dark but
contrasting strongly whith the retreating shadow. Montes Teneriffe, Pico
and other hills reflecting sunlight like mirrors almost. At
17:15h(16:15h UT) the Eastern rim of Plato threw a crown-like shadow on
it's floor. This gives very nice insight of the "skyline" of the Eastern
rim, as seen from inside Plato. After only fifteen minutes, there was a
noticable difference in the shape and size of the shadow, amazing to
see! There was no hope of seeing anything else inside the crater, due to
the poor seeing but the shadow was quite clear, especially with a bit of
study.

So much to see on the moon......

Regards,
martyn

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