The Lights in Plato
Watchers of the Moon reported points of light flickering on and off on the dark floor of one crater.
What was reported
Plato is a large, flat-floored crater near the Moon's northern edge, its floor filled with dark lava. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, observers in Britain coordinated by the Royal Astronomical Society kept watch on it and logged scores of tiny bright spots on the floor that seemed to come and go, change in brightness, and appear in different places from night to night.
Later observers occasionally reported glows, streaks of light and hazes in Plato too, making it one of the best-known sites for lunar mysteries.
Explanations offered
Most of the spots match small craterlets on the floor that catch the light at some sun angles and not others, along with the shimmer of Earth's atmosphere. Some reports of glows and hazes have no clear explanation, and Plato is still listed among the places where transient lunar phenomena are reported.
- When
- Reported in the 1800s and since
- Where
- Plato crater, the Moon
- Witnesses
- Astronomers in Britain and elsewhere
- Status
- Unexplained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.