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TLP or illuminated "peaks" (again)?
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Observer Joshua Try located in Whangarei, New Zealand reported that on 25-09-2001 at 8:30 U.T. he observed two possible L.T.Ps. on the edge of the terminator near the crater Archimedes. They appeared to be 2 bright points of light about the size of Mount Piton. They seem to form a triangle with Mount Piton. He observed them for 2 hours and they were still visible when he ended his observing session.
I had the opportunity to conduct some video tapping of the Moon on 22 January 2002 at 00 hr 18 min U.T. and was able to capture the Moon under similar lighting conditions. The image was taken with SCT C8 using 25mm eyepiece in projections. This image was taken when the Moon was 8.4 days old and the colongitude was 8.92. It may be that since the locations are very close that what Joshua saw was the tops of the mountain peaks just catching the sunlight. My image which is one lunar day later shows the mountains fully illuminated. I have had several reports in the past years that have reported these features as possible L.T.P. It can be very impressive and striking when one first sees these feature just catching the sunlight. It is my opinion that what the observer witness was peaks of these two mountains deep past the sunrise terminator.
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