spectacular sky tonight

Coming home at around 6:20 this evening: in a perfect line slanting up from the western horizon, the Old Moon lying in the arms of a bare sliver of a New Moon, Venus, and Jupiter, set in a deep blue sky above the last traces of sunset. Above the south eastern horizon, low clouds gleaming faintly sodium yellow against a sky of blue just this side of black -- and between the two colours, a band of high cloud glowing an electric blue. Given the appearance and timing, I think it must have been a noctilucent cloud.

My timing for walking through the park away from bright street lights was perfect. Alas, by the time I got to the house and got my camera and got back to a light-free area, the noctilucent cloud was gone, and the low clouds had drifted in front of the moon. But still a breath-taking few minutes, and I'm glad I happened to leave work early enough tonight to catch it just when I could get to a relatively dark area with clear sight lines.