Plato craterlets

[DaveGibbons]

I had my 12" skywatcher dob out last night primarily for viewing the moon and mars. I was using a william optics binoviewer and a pair of barlowed 25mm Tals(older ones). When the dob was not imitating a sail with the cold northerly wind I had some superb views of the moon on the zenith. I was able to view directly 6 craterlets in Plato's floor with a hint of another. I was wondering how many you have seen and what with? Am I at the limit for a 12" scope. I know webcam shots can show a good deal more, but was really pleased to see 6 with the old eyes!

cheers

Dave

[John]

Dave,

I could make out 3-4 tiny white patches on the floor of Plato least night with my 6" refractor. I assumed these were linked to the craterlets but I could not make out the crater pits themselves due to the high angle of illumination.

[Talitha]

With the 8" SCT i've seen four of them... three distinctly separate ones, and two which are really close together.

[kniclander]

I've seen, er , none. At the risk of hijacking the thread, DaveGibbons, can I ask what you need to make the binoviewer come to focus in the dob?

thanks

[DaveGibbons]

I've seen, er , none. At the risk of hijacking the thread, DaveGibbons, can I ask what you need to make the binoviewer come to focus in the dob?

thanks

I use a Celestron 2x ultima barlow placed before the binoviewers , they will not come to focus without one not enough in travel otherwise.

Dave

[Towa]

The craterlets were outstanding last night, best view I've had

of them in over 30 years of looking. I managed to pick up 5.

[kniclander]

I use a Celestron 2x ultima barlow placed before the binoviewers , they will not come to focus without one not enough in travel otherwise.

Dave

thanks Dave.

[kniclander]

The craterlets were outstanding last night, best view I've had

of them in over 30 years of looking. I managed to pick up 5.

ooh - nice! what scope, what power and what time? I was trying earlier but not much luck but the air wasn't very still.

[mike.brightmore]

I had the best view ever of the Plato craterlets (but had just cleaned my corrector plate - inside and out - and secondary mirror and somehow it all went back perfectly collimated). 3 were clearly visible at 70x mag. and could make out 5 at 140x mag. using a Celestron C11. Full moon is apparently one of the best times to observe them but of course you don't get any depth to craters. Also tried out a few Antares filters and they helped with contrast and definition, but made the moon some very odd colours.

[Towa]

ooh - nice! what scope, what power and what time? I was trying earlier but not much luck but the air wasn't very still.

Six inch refractor at 160x, at around 01:00UT this morning.

[MoonNut]

I will check and get back to you, it was one of the hardest of the Lunar 100 for me using a 6" newt (tried about 10 different times with different EPs and filters at different phases), I now have a Meade SN10 but I have not yet counted the craterlets!

[PeterW]

ALL the Lunar 100 visually! I have started to 'hit the hard ones' at 66/100 with a 5" refractor. The rest are either very close to the limb/need libration or are VERY small. Well done on the achievement, I trust you bought yourself a well earned beer afterwards!

Cheers

PEterW