Date: Sep 12-13, 2003 Time: 23:52 - 00:51 UT+3 Location: 38.2997-deg N, 23.7430-deg E Conditions: Clear skies, above average seeing with humidity @ 68% Instrument: Celestron 14" SCT, Losmandy G11 mount, ScopeTronix 14 SWA Subject: New Light Ray Discovered (Crater Lame: 64.0-d E, 14.7-d S)
I began preparing my C14 last night to take a peek at Mars when I made a quick detour over to the 16-day old moon which was fairly high in the southeast and still rising. It was obvious my seeing was better than average as I checked Plato (279x) and was able to easily make out the four main craterlets on its floor. Slewing around the perimeter of the moon starting from the north lunar pole and heading along the eastern limb so as to traverse the terminator immediately landed me to crater Lame and the stunning light ray in progress subtending an angle of approximately 75 degrees - one would have been blind not to see it, for it was most obvious and literally just west of the terminator (crater Lame lies in the southeast quadrant, measures approximately 82x82 km and is immediately to the southeast of Langrenus - it is best observed during the three-day or sixteen-day old moon).
I rushed to get by digital camera so as to capture the event digitally and managed to obtain 189 sample images in both portrait and landscape mode during a 59-minute interval using my Nikon Coolpix 995. I was so preoccupied with the imaging of this new ray not yet reported elsewhere that I inadvertedly left the corrector on its own and at the mercy of the environment (68% humidity) which proved to be fatal, for the corrector plate fogged significantly and brought a quick end to my session! As a result, I regrettably could not proceed with further observation to assess the end-point of the ray. The location of the radix lying on the western edge of the crater would suggest this to be a sunrise light ray.
Each of the 189 sample images was individually examined and assessed for further alignment and stacking in Registax (Version 2). However, one of the images was so superior to all the rest that processing was exclusively restricted to it alone. The link below provides the final image with complete details.
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Lunar-LRays-Lame-01.htm
Anthony Ayiomamitis
Athens, Greece
