I started my observing session at 01:00 U.T. The temperature was 29° with a wind-chill factor of 19°. It was clear and fairly transparent early in the evening. A few small cumulous clouds were moving through the area. By 04:45 U.T., sky conditions deteriorated. The moon was getting low in the west (setting time was 07:05 U.T.), and a fast moving, high, thin cloud layer caused a hazy appearance around the moon.
Several hours before the predicted time of the ray’s occurrence, I was observing other rays that were already in progress. I kept a close watch on the crater Kies.
At 04:50 U.T., I observed a rather wide swath of light emanating through a broken segmented area of the western rim. It lay slightly north of the dome Pi (?). It extended across a small ridge between Mercator and Koenig, which gave it a segmented and broken appearance.
The walls of Kies are very deteriorated and almost ghost like. The floor is lava filled, flat, and almost featureless. The western interior wall was illuminated. The floor was almost completely illuminated except for where a peak in the eastern wall cast a shadow along the length of the floor. The shadow laid approximately 1/3 from the southern rim.
Due to the physical characteristic of Kies, within 35 minutes, the floor and surrounding area of the ray was almost completely illuminated. The ray widened quickly from when first observed. By 06:00 U.T., the ray was almost non-existent and no longer recognized as such.