Photo taken by Tom RichardsDid you see the smiley face in the sky last night? I forgot all about it, but a friend texted me, so I wandered out in my falling-down trakkie daks* to have a look.
For those who don't know, the crescent moon and Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest stars, were aligned into a smiley face. I had to walk half way across the bridge over the Yarra before I could see it. It was a perfect night for stargazing - still, clear and mild. I enjoyed seeing the smiley face as well as the reflection of the city lights and the Nylex clock on the black water.
Apparently the smiley face formation won't be seen again for another five years. Not quite as rare as sightings of Haley's comet, but still pretty cool.
* Aussie slang for sweatpants
7 comments:
i saw that last night...it was coool :)
emoticons in the sky hahaha
i took a pic and tried to upload it to myspazz last night, but kept getting an error message. pft. maybe i'll try again (it's not as good as that pic though!)
went out just on dusk to see some tawny frogmouth owls (4) sitting in a big Jacaranda tree in the front yard of the family I Nanny for, and the Dad showed us the moon and stars smiley face, as he had heard about it at work yesterday.quite a sight !!
Oh wow: I wish I was standing where Tom Richards was. I got some good close-ups, but that panorama is really something! The orangey glow really adds something, too.
Every 5 years hey? Gee, I must only be getting more observant in my older years. ;P
Afraid not, I did not see, the smiley face in the sky created by, some lovely planets.I was in bed before sunset, not sure if I am going to make it that early tonight.
Holidays over chrissy?
Perhaps Christmas day (perhaps), weekends, yes.
I have obviously been a naughty bugger in a previous berdot. (life).
Wow ... what a fabulous shot! Just beautiful! It makes one smile, no?
Thanks for sharing it!
Small Footprints
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com
Hello everyone. Sorry I have been slow in replying to your comments. I've been trying to blog while conducting an increasingly busy social life, all with a case of agrypnia (a-ha! I used one of the words from my list! Go, me!)
OK. Hello Victoria. Hehe, Emoticons in the sky! And dang myspace. I had some error messages recently too during an uploading frenzy. It certainly is a fine photograph.
Hello Abbeysmum. Wow - that all sounds like quite a sight - tawny frogmouths in a jacaranda tree AND a smily moon and stars. I love jacaranda trees.
Hi Julian. Yep, Tom Richards did a great job with that photo. It's quite...atmospheric. I don't recall hearing about the smiley face until now either. Maybe the astronomer types kept it to themselves - you know how sometimes things can become a little less special when everyone else knows about it? ;)
Hi Earl. Gee, you should be close to being healthy, wealthy and wise with all these early mornings and early nights! If only it were that easy....
Shame you're not getting a more generous break over Christmas - sounds like you could use it.
Hello Small Footprints. It is indeed an awesome photo. The guy who took it must have got quite a kick out of seeing it on the website of a daily paper too.
Oooh, I saw that but didn't have time to look it up to see what it was all about. So glad to find the explanation here! Too bad that from the vantage point of my home in Reston, Virginia, USA (outside of Washington, DC), we didn't quite get the smiley face effect - it was more of an unhappy face! See pic, hope this link works:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16175-rare-celestial-trio-dazzles-sky-watchers-.html
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