The hills behind Santa Barbara and Goleta are on fire and evacuations have come down over the last week for the hills very near where I used to live. But things seem to be looking better.

The fires have lead to some pretty spectacular photos – such as this one, posted on a NASA astronomy site.

Explanation: On July 5th, wandering planets, bright stars, and a young crescent Moon graced western skies after sunset. Arrayed along the solar system’s ecliptic plane, the three celestial beacons forming this skyscape’s eye-catching line-up with the Moon are Saturn (upper left), then Mars, and finally Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo. Of course planet Earth itself lies in the foreground, a scene dominated by the city lights of Santa Barbara, California. The smoky haze hanging over the city is from threatening wild fires still burning along the hill at the right. On Thursday evening, Saturn and Mars can be seen in a much closer pairing or conjunction, separated by only about 3/4 degree on the sky.

A few more photos here.
Photo credit: Dmitrii Zagorodnov – (Thx Peter)