I don't stomp! :)
This was taken with adaptive optics, as for the bright edge, I am tempted to say lighting, but I can ask- the people that took it are down the hall from me... I don't know what the conditions were...
To use AO they currently need a bright star near the target, this limits AO to ~.5% of the sky- The laser guide star will open this up to 30%- Hopefully first light will be this month! Fingers crossed!