Bright Lights in the Night Sky

Bright Lights in the Night Sky

After the sun goes down tonight (around 2130 CST where I live), step outside and face east. Jupiter and the Moon are having a close encounter in the constellation Gemini, only 5 degrees apart. Dewey Vanderhoff photographed the pair converging on Dec. 17th over downtown Cody, Wyoming:

 

In Vanderhoff's image, the Moon is surrounded by a colorful lunar corona, caused by the diffracting action of water droplets and ice crystals in high clouds. "This was the most magnificent display of rainbow-colored clouds that I have ever seen," says Venderhoff. "A huge swath of cirrus clouds passed in front of the Moon, producing brilliant colors in several concentric bands. The bands undulated as the clouds moved across the face of the moon, propelled by strong upper level wind currents. I took multiple exposures and combined three frames using an HDR technique in Photoshop to capture and display the widest possible tonal range and color subtlety."

The Moon and Jupiter are two of the three brightest objects in the night sky. (Venus is the other.) As a result, this conjunction is visible even from brightly-lit cities. Take a look. It's a beautiful way to end the day.