Composite of two images taken at 6.42 and 7.03 pm.

Spectacular Volcanic Sunset Displays with Venus and Mercury.
On Saturday 10th December a combination of over the horizon clouds and a local high concentration of stratospheric aerosols after sunset gave rise to some spectacular displays of brightly coloured volcanic sunset crepuscular rays between 6.35 and 6.42 pm. These were followed twenty minutes later by a diffuse patch of residual magenta late volcanic sunset glow which persisted for a quarter of an hour until darkness approached. During the first few months after the January eruption of the Hunga-Tonga volcano, the colour magenta frequently appeared both early and late in the post-sunset stratospheric aerosol displays but now favours fading twilight. On this occasion it was barely visible to the naked eye and only shows up well in the lower night scenery photo taken with a four second exposure. A bonus is the presence of Mercury with Venus below approaching the horizon behind Hospital Hill.