Last night, there was a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter (i.e. the two planets appeared adjacent to each other in the night sky). At least, I think they did, since all that I could see in Galway was clouds, and lots of them. Similarly, I’m led to believe that there was some auroral activity visible over Ireland recently – again, nothing more than a rumour here in the City of the Tribes (and Rain). Even more outlandishly, there is crazy talk of something called a heatwave sweeping Europe – a phenomenon that doesn’t seem to be able to travel west of the M6 toll plaza at Cappataggle.
The picture above – of a conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon – was taken at the end of March, 2012 – an unseasonably warm night for the time of year, as I remember it. It was taken from the mountain gap at Maméan, where I also took this picture at the grotto there, later that night. The hill in the foreground is Lissoughter with the Twelve Bens in the background. That’s Orion in the top left corner of the picture.