Abisko, Sweden: This picture was taken while I was carrying out glaciological fieldwork in northern Sweden last week. The picture was taken from a mountain hut, about 20km W-NW of the small town of Abisko. As well as Venus and Jupiter (I think that's what can be seen!), you can also see the aurora. MK: A nice reminder that the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter isn't the only thing going on in our solar system at the moment. As the Sun moves further into the active phase of its 11-year cycle it ejects bursts of particles from its surface out into space. When these strike our atmosphere they produce beautiful auroral displays like this one

Photograph: David Rippin