 During the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, Houston radioed to Apollo 11: "We 've got an observation you can make if you have some time up there. There's been some lunar transient events reported in the vicinity of Aristarchus." Astronomers in Bochum, West Germany, had observed a bright glow on the lunar surface — the same sort of eerie luminescence that has intrigued Moon watchers for centuries. The report was passed on to Houston and thence to the astronauts. Almost immediately, Michael Collins reported back: "Hey, Houston, I 'm looking north up toward Aristarchus now, and there's an area that is considerably more illuminated than the surrounding area. It seems to have a slight amount of fluorescence."
