This morning's beautiful conjunction between Jupiter, a crescent Moon and Venus - and marking this blog hitting 30,000 views

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This little blog whipped past 30,000 views on the back of the Friday-night public stargazing story - I even missed it.

What better way to mark that milestone than a pretty sky view? Early risers who ventured out this morning had a special treat in the north-east sky, with Jupiter, a very thin crescent Moon and Venus all very close together.

And anyone with a telescope would have had the extra special treat of seeing Venus itself as a fine crescent - but still amazingly bright. Why a crescent? Well it has just been in front of the Sun (relative to our position) so the Sun is still behind it, but gradually coming around the side. It's the same principal as for the phases of the Moon but just on a lot longer cycle.

I'll try to get a photo of Venus through the telescope over the next few mornings, although being that low in the morning sky means it won't be sharp.