Atlantic Front

The passing of the months is tolled by the view from our front door just before we retire each night.  In mid-winter, Orion stands in our face, with Taurus higher to the right.  Last night Orion was well to the west, half-obscured by our neighbour's conifer, while Taurus had moved round so it was just visible over our roof line.  The planet Jupiter is still in Taurus and very bright, so a picture seemed essential.  Sadly, the wind had moved into the west and had begun to bring in the damper air of an incoming Atlantic front, so the planet was hazy.  However, three of Jupiter's moons are visible in this picture, one to its top left and two below and to its right.

By morning the front still lay to the west of us, but the colours in a spectacular sunrise lasted only a few minutes.  The undersides of the streaked-out clouds began to turn pink just before 7.50, as the BBC's Highland news came on, this picture was taken at 7.55....

....but by 8.20 the frontal clouds had arrived, and all colour had drained away leaving a cold grey sky over the snow-covered mountains of Mull.

The picture shows CalMac's Clansman steaming up the Sound on her scheduled service to Coll and Tiree, while the smaller ship to the left is the ferry Raasay on her early morning crossing from Kilchoan to Tobermory.