Bright Stars and Planets above unusual late Volcanic Sunset Glow.
During the first two weeks of May there have been daily Volcanic Sunset displays consisting first of a conventional bright twilight arch produced by lower-level stratospheric aerosols followed twenty minutes later by an unusual but fainter glow which extends much higher above the horizon producing a colourful backdrop to well-known bright stars including Canopus, Sirius, the Orion Constellation and Procyon plus the planets Venus and Mars which would otherwise be in darkness. This later secondary volcanic sunset display appears to be due to a widespread presence of thin very high-altitude stratospheric aerosols which may be the remnant of material originally ejected into the mesosphere by the massive Hunga-Tonga eruption sixteen months ago. This is reflecting setting sunlight for much longer (more than an hour) after the Sun has disappeared below the horizon producing an unusual glow which is barely visible to the naked eye but shows up strongly in multi-second wide-aperture photographic exposures. It is a phenomenon I have not seen displayed so well elsewhere and may be of interest to the EarthSky Community.

Tripod-mounted Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS40 in manual exposure mode (4 secs at F3.3)

Compilation of 4 image mosaic providing 180 degree panaoramic view of horizon to west of Mutare between 6.05 and 6.15 pm.