Dawn

Aurora now had left her saffron bed,

And beams of early light the heav'ns o'erspread,

When, from a tow'r, the queen, with wakeful eyes,

Saw day point upward from the rosy skies.

Virgil

Tooty couldn't sleep last night and took these photographs from the north facing window of our bedroom.  In June and July and at our latitude, 52 degrees 29 minutes north, the sun never drops that far below the northern horizon. Consequently, prior to sunrise, the northern horizon shows the rosy glow of a false dawn.

It was a shame that, on the night before, the sky was completely overcast. Apparently, the Northern Lights could be seen only twenty miles north of Lowestoft.

Looking at the NASA site I was much impressed with the images sent back from the 'Dawn' probe, which has been in orbit around the asteroid Vesta.

In particular and for those who kept their 3d spectacles after seeing  'Men in Black 3', NASA's 3d film of the asteroid Vesta is well worth a watch!

See:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20111201.html

"After successfully completing nearly five months scrutinizing the giant asteroid Vesta at its lowest orbit altitude, NASA's Dawn spacecraft is beginning its final major science data-gathering phase at Vesta on June 15, at an average altitude of 420 miles (680 kilometers) above the surface".

"Following this final data gathering phase, Dawn will spend almost five weeks spiraling out from the giant asteroid to the point at which Vesta will lose its gravitational hold on the spacecraft. That departure day is expected to be around Aug. 26. Dawn will turn to view Vesta as it leaves and acquire more data. Then, Dawn will set its sights on the dwarf planet Ceres, and begin a two-and-a-half year journey to investigate the largest body in the main asteroid belt. Dawn will enter orbit around Ceres in 2015". NASA

Aurora Borealis over Foxley, Norfolk. Photo by Chris Bell of Weatherquest.From the EDP site