The BBC is reporting that astronomers are puzzled by a strange bright spot which has appeared in the clouds of Venus. Even better, the spot was first observed by an amateur astronomer.*

In what one hopes is unrelated news, I received here in the office my advanced copies of Usurper of the Sun, a hard SF novel (and Seiun winner!) that details in its earliest chapters the discovery of a strange bright spot on Mercury by an amateur astronomer, namely high school girl Aki Shiraishi. Fun novel or horrifying guide to our grim whatsapp plus future of climactic collapse and alien invasion? YOU decide. Oh, I'm sure the Venus spot is just volcanic activity and not aliens breaking the planet apart to build a ring around the sun. Totally, absolutely sure. I have no idea why I created a "Holy crap, we're all gonna die!" tag.