Did you miss last night's auroras? Next time get a wake-up call from Spaceweather PHONE.
BLANK SUN: Tiny sunspot 952 has dissolved, leaving the sun blank for the 13th day this month--and it's only April 19th. So many blank suns signals a deep nadir of the solar cycle.
MOON & VENUS: Don't wait until the sky fades to black. Go outside this evening while sunset is still in progress, and look west into the glow. Weather permitting, you'll see Venus and the crescent moon side by side: sky map.
Last night on the eve of the conjunction, P-M Hedén photographed the moon by itself over Vallentuna, Sweden:
Photo details: Canon Digital Rebel XT, 20mm Sigma lens, tripod
Tonight, just add Venus.
more images: from Denis Joye of Boulogne, France; from Oscar Blanco of La Coruna, Spain; from Jan Koeman of Kloetinge, The Netherlands; from Nicolai Wiegand of Schöningen, Germany; from Günther Strauch of Borken, Germany; from Samuel Hawkins of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, UK.
X IN THE SKY: If you live far from city lights, you may be able to see a faint but beautiful spectacle in the western sky tonight--a giant, glowing X. Physics professor Jimmy Westlake took this picture near Stagecoach, Colorado, on April 14th about an hour after sunset:
Photo details: Fuji Finepix S2, 16mm Nikkor fisheye lens, ISO 800, 2 minutes
"It was spectacular," he says. "The bright, yellowish zodiacal light crossed the blue band of the Milky Way forming a large X in the sky. Venus and the Pleiades were completely immersed in zodiacal glow."
Zodiacal light--sunlight reflected from dust littering the plane of the solar system--is very faint. Even the slender crescent moon can interfere with it; so wait until the moon sets and allow your eyes time to fully adjust to the darkness. Or let your camera do the work: "I used a Fuji FinePix S2 digital camera set at ISO 800," says Westlake. "It was a 2-minute guided exposure with a 16-mm Nikkor fisheye lens at f2.8."