Are you an early riser [ http://redfrog.norc…]? Over the last month or so, the bright planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] Jupiter and Saturn have come to adorn eastern skies before sunrise [ http://redfrog.norc…]. In fact, astrophotographer Joe Orman [ http://home.cwix.co…] anticipated that an early bird's reward for looking east on June 10 would be this pleasing arrangement of Jupiter (top right), a crescent Moon, and Saturn (near center), but he was surprised to also find these eerie, iridescent clouds wafting through the pre-dawn sky over suburban Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The clouds turned out to be rocket [ http://www-istp.gsf…] engine [ http://www.wff.nasa…] trails [ ftp://pao.gsfc.nasa…] from defense missile tests at the range in White Sands [ http://ruidoso.net/…], New Mexico ... about 300 miles away. While the Moon's phase [ http://aa.usno.navy…] is just past new moon [ http://lunar.arc.na…], gone now from the pre-dawn horizon, brilliant Jupiter [ http://galileo.ivv.…] and Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa…] can still be seen high toward the southeast in the constellation [ http://www.astro.wi…constellations.html ] Aries.
