Like Flying over Plato Crater and Vallis Alpes Lunar Valley
Alqueva´s Dark Sky Reserve | By Year: 2021 | Moon in close up | Planets and Moon Craters | The Moon
Like if we were making an orbital flight over the moon, the image captured on March 23, 2021 from Dark Sky® Alqueva Observatory, in Cumeada village, Portugal, on a very steady night, shows in close-up a high-resolution sharp view of Plato and Vallis Alpes. Located on the northeastern shore of the Mare Imbrium, at the western extremity of the Montes Alpes mountain range. Plato is a lava-filled lunar impact crater with an age of around 3.84 billion years, featuring a 100,7km in diameter has an irregular rim 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, 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. East of the crater, among the Montes Alpes, are several rilles collectively named the Rimae Plato. Near the lower left corner, is located Vallis Alpes, an incredible lunar valley featuring that bisects the Montes Alpes range. It extends 166 km from the Mare Imbrium basin. The valley is narrow at both ends and widens to a maximum width of about 10 km along the middle stretch. The valley floor is a flat, lava-flooded surface that is bisected by a slender, broken, cleft-like rille. The sides of the valley rise from the floor to the surrounding highland terrain, a blocky, irregular surface.
PT: Como se estivéssemos em pleno voo orbital sobre a lua, a imagem captada em 23 de Março de 2021 a partir do Observatório da Cumeada, no Dark Sky® Alqueva, Portugal, numa noite com a atmosfera muito estável, mostra uma visão nítida e em alta resolução da cratera Plato e Vallis Alpes. Localizada na costa nordeste do Mare Imbrium, na extremidade oeste da cordilheira dos Montes Alpes. Plato (Platão) é uma cratera de impacto lunar cheia de lava com uma idade de cerca de 3,84 mil milhões de anos, apresentando um diâmetro de 100,7 km e uma extremidadee irregular com picos recortados de 2 km de altura que projetam sombras proeminentes no chão da cratera quando o Sol está um ângulo baixo. Secções da parede interna mostram sinais de queda, no passado, principalmente uma grande marca triangular ao longo do lado oeste. O limbo de Plato é circular, mas visto da Terra parece oval devido ao efeito de compressão da perspectiva. O piso plano de Plato tem um albedo relativamente baixo, fazendo com que pareça escuro em comparação com o terreno acidentado circundante. O chão está livre de crateras de impacto significativas e não possui um pico central. No entanto, existem algumas pequenas crateras espalhadas pela superfície. A Este da cratera, entre os Montes Alpes, existem vários canais chamados coletivamente de Rimae Plato. Perto do canto esquerdo inferior, está localizado Vallis Alpes, um incrível vale lunar que divide a cordilheira dos Montes Alpes. Estende-se por 166 km desde a bacia do Mare Imbrium. O vale é estreito em ambas as extremidades e se alarga até uma largura máxima de cerca de 10 km ao longo do trecho intermédio. O fundo do vale é uma superfície plana inundada de lava que é dividida ao meio por um canal fino, quebrado e semelhante a uma fenda. Os lados do vale elevam-se do solo até o terreno montanhoso circundante, uma superfície irregular e em blocos.
Technical details | Detalhes Técnicos
Camera ASI174MC | Meade UHTC LX200 12″ GPS| Barlow 4x Televue Powermate | Sum of 200 frames for each panel. Processing on AutoStakkert 3, Registax 6 and Photoshop CC 2021. Cumeada Observatory from Dark Sky® Alqueva Reserve, Reguengos de Monsaraz.
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