Mercury in the beam
One of the nice things about my job is working in international collaborations. Most of the time we work by email, Skype and the internet but with people spread across about 130 degrees of longitude that can be awkward. Sometimes you just need to meet up and work face-to-face. So on Tuesday - a day that felt like the start of summer - I travelled to Paris for a three day meeting.
As is becoming a tradition on my blog, I wanted to get an astronomical shot with a famous landmark whilst I had the opportunity. I've previously snapped Saturn from Piazza San Marco (St Mark's square) and Venus next to the Colloseum so it seemed fitting to get another of the planets with a famous Parisian landmark.

Mercury in the searchlight beam of La Tour Eiffel taken on 7th May 2008. Click for the larger version. CREDIT: Stuart
To see hundreds of stunning images of the night sky pictured above famous landmarks all over the world, visit The World At Night website.