Its often remarked upon that our landscapes look otherworldly so we thought youd all enjoy this..... This rather incredible photograph of the moon was taken last night from our observatory at the National Park Visitor Centre by Fuad Jamaluddin – an international student from Singapore. It clearly shows Mare Ibrium with the Bay of Rainbows and the dark crater Plato. Plato is the lava-filled remains of a lunar impact crater on the Moon. It is located on the northeastern shore of the Mare Imbrium, at the western extremity of the Montes Alpes mountain range. The age of Plato is about 3.84 billion years, only slightly younger than the Mare Imbrium 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. Plato has developed a reputation for transient lunar phenomena, 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. The 17th-century astronomer Hevelius called this feature the Greater Black Lake.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 09:35:56 +0000
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