A ‘SMILEY face’ gazed down upon the people of Perth last night when the moon and two planets lined up for a rare cosmic show.
Perth Observatory astronomer Ralph Martin said Venus, Jupiter and the moon combined to form what looked like a smiley face. He said in only happened every five years and usually in the morning sky.
He admitted that in his 25 years as an astronomer in Perth he had not seen it before.
“The first thing I did was phone up my little girl to go look at the smiley face,” Mr Martin said.
“Kids would have enjoyed it, it looked nice, it gave you a bit of a chuckle to look at.”
The unusual phenomenon was at its best from sunset to 11pm. It disappeared when the moon continued to move towards the two planets.
The Perth Observatory was flooded with calls from people saying they had seen the smiley face in the night sky and wanting to know what caused it.
If you were hoping to see it again tonight, don’t bother looking skywards. The movement of the planets means last night’s event was a one-off and it won’t happen for another five years.