November 17, 2004 7:15 CST 1:15 UT
Wichita Falls, TX Lat 33,49,30 Lon 98,32,41 300 meters
203mm f/6 at x94

I had a chance between clouds to finally see the moon after a week of rain. Observing under moving clouds and marginal seeing afforded me a moderate power view of the sunrise ray in crater Hypatia. The small, irregular crater had a very well defined ray traversing the entire width from east to west across the floor from the pronounced break in the eastern wall. The ray was fairly narrow and parted the darkened crater by thirds. An easy sight even with low transparency and boiling turbulence.

Another crater close to Zagut (22E, 32S) had the ending of what appeared to be another sunrise ray. It was completely gone by 7:40, or roughly thirty minutes from when I first saw it. The crater was well defined by sturdy walls but had a central craterlet illuminated in the path of the fairly wide ray.

Thank goodness for the portability of my grab'n go truss tube 8". I would have completely missed this 45 minute window of opportunity had I not just felt inclined to peek out the door for a break in the clouds!

Larry B Smith reported seeing this ray. He notes: "I video taped this ray on 10/17/96 at 20:00 eastern time, but didn't know what it was until I reviewed the tape looking for rays on 4/6/99. However, during this interim, Akkana of Shallow Sky had observed this ray and mentioned it on her website."