april 28th morning planetary conjunction

Adrian West invites readers to rise a half hour before sunrise tomorrow, in order, to get a glimpse of Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars in conjunction. West urges in a Universe Today article, "Planets Party in The Morning April 28-May 1": "Go out and with either a pair of binoculars, a small telescope, or just use your naked eyes and find an unobscured view of the Eastern horizon to see a conjunction (objects near each other in the sky) of the planets Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury, below and to the left of the thin crescent moon." The month of May will provide more astronomical sights with details available here.

double-eyed vortex at venus south pole

The Venus Express probe, orbiting that planet since 2006, has sent back images that reveal a vortex at the south pole that shifts its shape every 24 hours. A recent article on the Signs of the Times website reveals that this 1,200 mile vortex is more than just a spinning circle; this Vortex is detected in "S" and "8" shapes. "The vortex is not poised directly over the south pole, but instead its center is consistently located approximately three degrees of latitude away, and it drifts around the pole, completing a circuit every five to 10 days. These findings suggest the atmospheric dynamics at Venus' southern pole are more complex than scientists thought." A one minute video of the Vortex of Venus provides the viewer with a nice visual.

impressive auroras as aurora max 2012 nears

Take a brief and beautiful tour of auroras (or aurorae) from around the world, then depart for more pix from other points in the solar system, Saturn (red) and Jupiter (blue). Auroras are building and will reach an aurora max in 2012. First stop, Northern Lights in Iceland are pictured on The Telegraph UK website. The next stop is in Scotland, where Jim Henderson captured exceptional images in, "Awe-inspiring auroras: The psychedelic majesty of the Northern Lights captured in the skies over Aberdeen. The Jovian planets are huge magnets, Jupiter's magnetosphere is 20,000 times greater than the Earth's and UV studies at the University of Arizona go into detail with auroras pictured here. The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft captured pix of Mars aurora here. Our neighbor Venus is, perhaps, unique with little intrinsic magnetic field, but has a "night glow" from the solar wind. You can learn more about how auroras form here. The viewing will only get better as we approach the Solar Max and Aurora Max of 2012.