Chile's sky after the earthquake

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http://www.spaceweather.com/ TREMBLING EARTH, WOBBLY STARS: In Chile, astronomers know the ground is still shaking. They can see it in the stars. Colin Legg reports from the Andes east of Santiago: " I made this 88-second exposure on Sunday night, Feb. 28th, less than 24 hours after the big 8.8-magnitude quake. It records the movement of the Earth in the star trails during an earth tremor. "

Earthquake experts say the

shaking will continue for months. Indeed, in the

days after the " Big One " , Chilean seismometers have recorded more than 10 aftershocks in the range 6th to 7th magnitude, and more than 200 aftershocks stronger than 4th magnitude. A tip for astrophotographers: Keep your exposure times short. The stars over Chile could be wobbling for some time

to come.

EVENING STAR: After a long absence from the evening sky, Venus is emerging from the glare of sunset to resume her position as Evening Star. Sky watchers everywhere are making their first

Venus sightings of the year--even astronauts. Soichi Noguchi sends this picture from the International Space Station (ISS):

The Japanese engineer and astronaut is

doing a 4-month tour of duty

on the ISS, and he is taking lots of pictures of Earth and sky. You can find them on his Twitter page. Venus is one of his favorite targets.

To see the same bright planet astronauts have been admiring, look west at sunset. Venus pops out of the twilight as soon as the sun dips below the horizon. Welcome back, Evening Star.

more images: from

Witman of Cochranville, Pennsylvania; from

C McConnell of Maghaberry Northern Ireland.