Hesiod's light beam on December 28, 2025

On December 28th, the Hesiodus light beam was visible. This event is not often observed because the Moon is only positioned in such a way that viewing conditions are favorable a few times a year. Therefore, I accepted the less than ideal viewing conditions. The strong turbulence unfortunately reduced the image quality, but the spectacle was still clearly visible.

In this event, which can only be observed when the Sun is low on the Moon, the light beam passes through a 45 km wide gap in the crater rim between Hesiodus and the adjacent crater Pitatus, illuminating the still-dark floor of the crater. (See the two craters at the top.)

The two craters at the bottom of the image are (from left to right) the heavily eroded Wurzelbauer crater and, next to it, Gauricus (87 and 80 kilometers in diameter, respectively). Pitatus measures 101 kilometers and Hesiodus 43 kilometers.

Best regards, Reinhard Pankrath