The Mysteries of Plato

by Charles A. Wood
Sunrise on the floor of Plato was captured in this video image made with a 6-inch Maksutov-Newtonian reflector on March 25, 1!
Note the spirelike shadows cast "# the peaks on the crater$s eastern wall! %n a matter of several hours, these shadows shrink to a
fraction of the length seen here!
Courtesy Dennis di Cicco.
The crater Plato is one of the superstars for observers of the Moon. It is big (101
kilometers wide) conspicuous with its dark floor ringed b! a bright rim and
long a sub"ect of detailed scrutin! speculation and controvers!.
The view through a telescope is especiall! intriguing because of the irregularit!
of Plato#s rim as shown dramaticall! b! variations in lengths of shadows cast
onto its floor. $ccording to old measurements reported in Thomas %w!n
&lger#s 1'() book The Moon, three peaks on the eastern rim rise 1.) 1.' and
*.1 kilometers above the floor. +n the western rim an obvious large triangular
massif is partiall! disconnected from the crater rim. This 1),km,long block and
another one farther north resulted from giant landslides where segments of the
rim slid slightl! inward creating a scallop - a bite out of the circular rim.
.ariations in rim height and width ma! thus be due to slumping but the height
differences on Plato#s east rim must be of older unknown origins.
+ne Plato m!ster! with a simple solution is its lack of a central peak. /ompared
to other craters of similar si0e Plato should have a *.*,km,high mountain rising
from its floor. 1owever since Plato is filled with a *.2,km la!er of lava the
peak is buried.
&ow man# craterlets can #ou see on Plato$s floor' (lthough some o"servers have reported do)ens, onl# four craters are sufficientl#
o"vious to "e seen with moderate telescopes even when o"serving conditions are stead# and the illumination angle is favora"le!
*he largest of the four measures 2!2 kilometers across!
Courtesy Brown/NASA Northeast Regional Planetary Data Center.
3or more than 100 !ears the floor of Plato has been the focus of intense 4uasi,
scientific debate over suspected lunar changes. Three t!pes of observations
caused controvers!5 detection of small craters on Plato#s floor variation in floor
darkness with changing 6un angles and obscurations of the floor itself. 7ecause
the floor possesses a few small impact craters near the limit of visibilit! with
small telescopes there have been unofficial contests to detect the largest
number of craters. 1arvard astronom! professor 8.1. Pickering apparentl!
won in 1'(* b! announcing his mapping of 91 spots on Plato#s floor.
/omparison of hand,drawn maps with high,resolution photographs obtained b!
the :unar +rbiter ; spacecraft in 1(29 demonstrates that the observers did
detect the four largest craters and some of the smaller ones but their estimates
of si0es locations and numbers were often seriousl! in error.
/raterlets were not the onl! source of controversial observations. $ccording to
&lger <The gradual darkening of the floor of Plato as the sun#s altitude
increases from *0= till after full moon ma! be regarded as an established fact
though no feasible h!pothesis has been advanced to account for it.< $ctuall!
"ust the opposite is true according to measurements of the floor#s brightness b!
sensitive photometers mounted on large telescopes. :ike the rest of the Moon
Plato#s floor brightens until near full when it rapidl! gets much brighter and
then darkens after full Moon.
Plato area highlighted!
Courtesy Dennis di Cicco.
The third of Plato#s controversies concerns reports that the dark floor is
occasionall! obscured b! mists or clouds. Most of the observations were made
during the last centur!> 8alter %oodacre#s 1(?1 book also called The
Moon,mentions that there are <a number of well authenticated cases.<
@escriptions include a fog that cleared as the 6un rose a <curious luminous
milk! kind of light< and a nondescript lack of detail. $nother 1(th,centur!
observer found that the floor was covered b! m!riad points of light <as if
reflected from flocculent clouds l!ing near the surface.<
In contrast with these visual observations in none of the man! photographs
taken b! space probes or b! large telescopes have there been obscurations of
Plato#s floor. Perhaps like A3+#s onl! believers see them.