After the terrorist attack, Mumbaikars were grieving their friends who passed away. This apparition in the heavens came as a blessing and encouraged them to carry on. The photos were taken from the Worli Seaface.

A triad of celestial orbs looms over a similar arrangement of mysterious orbs carved in the ancient Pu'uloa lava fields of Kilauea Volcano. Some petroglyphs, like these, may have may astronomical significance.

As I drove west from the east of Portland, the most amazing sky scene evolved. Many people think of a photographic Kodak moment produced in a camera but the aesthetics of this fast changing scene could not be done in a still photo for me as I was thinking pastel sketching from scratch. I hurried home to grab my portable Nexstar 5i telescope and art supplies, rushing to a hilltop in central Portland, the moon now sinking into the fog. I quickly captured the lunar terminator in a quick sketch from the eyepiece with poor seeing conditions. I roughed in the image and the positions of Jupiter and Venus, leaving the foreground open for a landscape to add the moon illusion perspective to show its stark size. Returning home I rendered the scene as I recalled from driving just earlier, the fog forming was like smoke rising in front of the street filled with traffic, yet the sunset was still beaming though in a fiery orange below. Above the moon and planets floated in an ethereal cool blue mist. –Mark Seibold, Artist-Astronomer, Portland Oregon

We had overcast skies on Sunday, but at sunset on Monday there were just a few beautifully lit wave clouds (alto cumulus standing lenticular, to be precise) to set off the conjunction. Spectacular!

Photo details: Canon EOS 5D, EF 24-105mm zoom lens for the first shot; EF 70-200mm f/2.8 for the second shot.

Photo details: Canon EOS 5D, Takahashi 60, 1-3 sec exposures.

There were wispy clouds just after sunset, which is common for Winter in Arizona. At first, I wasn't too pleased about the contrails getting in the way, but when one split Jupiter and Venus, I thought it was neat. Once it got dark, it was even more dramatic in my back yard. My husband had recently installed foot lights for the Saguaro cacti, and it made all the difference for photographing last night's event.

Photo details: Nikon D200

What an awesome thing it was to see a conjunction like this from such an ancient site. You can easily understand the power this kind of celestial event could have over our ancestors.

Photo details: Canon 350D, Meade ETX-125 OTA