Cloudbreak at a quarter past nine

I was out in front of the building yesterday morning, trying to see something through the clouds, much less get a bead on Mercury. The clouds blew past just around the time that Mercury ought to have glided out of view... but I still think that we might have seen it as I projected an image onto a piece of paper.

Or maybe it was just a round piece of dust.

Anyway, I noticed some dramatic cloudshaping going on after I put the telescope to the side. Most arresting was a pre-emergence highlight along one cloudbank, with all of these diffuse hues of peach and blue and yellow. These photos (certainly at their scanning resolution) do no justice...




1111px version


1111px version