From an astronomy point of view, this was a pretty cool deal: two planets aligning with the Pleiades star cluster. To top it off, the Northern Lights were at play as well.

This is actually an even better catch than is readily apparent; right before I snapped it, the clouds were covering Venus. Right after, the auroras faded from the northeastern sky. A sliver of moon appeared above the horizon as well, but only at the expense of the Pleiades fading from sight as sunrise approached. All in all, it was a matter of delicate timing.

No, I didn’t really sleep last night. Yes, I did get Northern Lights photos. More on that later.