Aurora Australis & the Great Morning Planet Show of May 2011

The Great Morning Planet Show of May 2011 - the Moon, Mars,
Jupiter, Venus and Mercury over Magnetic Island in east Australia

     While the news of Osama bin Laden's death and its whirlwind ensue around the planet, there are fascinating things happening in the sky above us.  For the rest of May, we can see the Great Morning Planet Show of May 2011 when four planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, align in the eastern, early morning sky.         
        
        There is also a minor solar storm with a strong solar wind hitting Earth's magnetic field; causing not only Aurora Borealis, but Aurora Australis - Southern Lights.  The solar wind is flowing from a coronal hole in the Sun's magnetic field, and reaching Earth's at over 600 kilometers per second.  As a result, a spectacular display of light shows illuminated the skies over those lucky enough to be near the poles and even reached into Wisconsin and Michigan in the US.  

Aurora Australis - the Southern Lights. Photo taken at the South Pole
 where temperature was -85F and the Sun doesn't rise for six months.

Earth is inside a solar wind stream
flowing from the indicated coronal
 hole. Credit: SDO/AIA.
(May 2, 2011 SpaceWeather.com)

Source: SpaceWeather