Smiling Night Sky ...

"THE world may be facing its worst economic turmoil in decades, but the heavens are about to smile on Australia.

A rare cosmic alignment tonight will produce a smiling face - or an emoticon, depending on your generation - high over the country.

From soon after 8pm until just before 11pm the planets Venus and Jupiter will stare down from the western sky like two brilliant eyes. Directly below, the crescent moon will form a happy mouth.

However the cosmic cheeriness will be a fleeting affair. Another smiley face will not grin over Australia until the early hours of July 21, 2036.

Sydney Observatory will stay open for tonight's show, allowing people to stare back through telescopes and glimpse Jupiter's moons, Venus's gibbous shape and lunar craters."

http://www.smh.com.au

Here is a shot I took of it later on at around 10:30pm