Day #278 - Happy Winter Solistice
Dec. 21st, 2020 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatAnd... The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn - which you most likely know about unless you've been hiding under a social media rock.
Skywatchers are in for an end-of-year treat. What has become known popularly as the “Christmas Star” is an especially vibrant planetary conjunction easily visible in the evening sky over the next two weeks as the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn come together, culminating on the night of Dec. 21.
In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the night sky, discovering the four moons of Jupiter – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. In that same year, Galileo also discovered a strange oval surrounding Saturn, which later observations determined to be its rings. These discoveries changed how people understood the far reaches of our solar system.
Thirteen years later, in 1623, the solar system’s two giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, traveled together across the sky. Jupiter caught up to and passed Saturn, in an astronomical event known as a “Great Conjunction.”
“You can imagine the solar system to be a racetrack, with each of the planets as a runner in their own lane and the Earth toward the center of the stadium,” said Henry Throop, astronomer in the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “From our vantage point, we’ll be able to be to see Jupiter on the inside lane, approaching Saturn all month and finally overtaking it on December 21.”
The planets regularly appear to pass each other in the solar system, with the positions of Jupiter and Saturn being aligned in the sky about once every 20 years.
What makes this year’s spectacle so rare, then? It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction.”
The closest alignment will appear just a tenth of a degree apart and last for a few days. On the 21st, they will appear so close that a pinkie finger at arm’s length will easily cover both planets in the sky. The planets will be easy to see with the unaided eye by looking toward the southwest just after sunset.
From our vantage point on Earth the huge gas giants will appear very close together, but they will remain hundreds of millions of miles apart in space. And while the conjunction is happening on the same day as the winter solstice, the timing is merely a coincidence, based on the orbits of the planets and the tilt of the Earth.
“Conjunctions like this could happen on any day of the year, depending on where the planets are in their orbits,” said Throop. “The date of the conjunction is determined by the positions of Jupiter, Saturn, and the Earth in their paths around the Sun, while the date of the solstice is determined by the tilt of Earth’s axis. The solstice is the longest night of the year, so this rare coincidence will give people a great chance to go outside and see the solar system.”
And my attempt to capture it on film along with the moon. The tiny speck is the conjunction.
Frankly it looks like a very bright star from this distance. I envy folks with binoculars and telescopes.
In other news..or rather in our on-going series New York vs. the Corona Virus and the Federal Government of the United States
New York got worried about the UK bringing a virulent strand of the virus to New York. So in an act of desperation, because the pesky Federal Government was ignoring it, asked if they could be added to the list of 120 countries requiring a negative COVID-19 test prior to landing and entering New York.
So lets' see - we have 120 countries (mainly Western Europe, China, Canada, New Zealand (who to my knowledge isn't letting anyone in until they quarantine for a month and test negative), and Australia) and now New York.
New York explained that yes, it knows it isn't a country - but, it feels there is cause for concern, if Canada, and the other 120 countries are taking this new alleged "virulent strain" discovered in the UK seriously, and Boris has done a 180 degree turn from opening the country up for Christmas to completely shutting it down. (If you are British - you already know about this. One of my British friends on FB has been upset for about a week now - on account of the fact that she's finally on vacation but stuck - and can't see her partner. (I don't know why she isn't living with her partner, I chose not to ask - it's not really any of my business. Someone else assumed her partner is male - I know the partner is female, I was surprised they didn't pick up on it. British friend declined to correct them for some reason. ) Plus, need we all forget - New York is more than happy to remind us - it got the kicked by the virus in March because someone from Italy brought it here. And if only the Federal Government - who knew the virus was loose in Europe as early as December - had stopped all European flights, we'd be okay now.
But New York is more than willing to forgive the Federal Government for its oversight in the spring, if it would do something now! Since it refuses to - mainly because the idiots in charge are more interested in wrangling over an election that was fairly decided back in November - New York has taken it upon itself (AGAIN) to do something. (By Again - back in February and March - New York developed its own testing program and protocol because the Federal Government refused to take NY seriously about its cases.)
This round it has requested (most likely begged) Virgin Airlines, Delta, and British Airways to not permit anyone to board flights for NY from the UK who had not tested negative for COVID-19 within 24 hours of boarding. It can't really stop the airlines from coming to New York, it has no jurisdiction over international airlines, but it can make people get tested prior to leaving the airport and throw them int quarantine - although that is hard to do without the airport and airlines assistance. To date - British Airways has agreed.
Suffice it to say - I'm really glad I'm not commuting to and from the Air Train building that serves JFK International airport at the moment.
I know I shouldn't find this funny - but it is. If this were a horror film, I'd be laughing my head off.
Our federal government passed inept about eight months ago, and landed into incompetent and dangerously negligent. So negligent in fact, that I can't help but wonder if we can all file a class action lawsuit against the GOP for gross and malicious negligence. Probably not. Just wishful thinking on my part. I keep wishing a hacker would steal the GOP's money and bankrupt the bastards.
In other news - Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy have agreed to a $406 million plan that for the first time would comprehensively stop and remove the Grumman groundwater pollution plaguing Bethpage and surrounding communities, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Monday.
After more than 40 years denying or downplaying what has become Long Island’s most intractable environmental crisis, the defense contractor, formerly Grumman Aerospace, and the Navy, which owned a portion of the company’s old facility, reached a deal in principle with the state that would install a series of new contaminant extraction wells inside and along the edges of the 4.3-mile-long, 2.1-mile-wide toxic plume."
And.. Covid vaccine tracker website that will track how many people everywhere have been vaccinated (assuming of course it works, hard to know at the moment - Biden was vaccinated today, along with his wife. The Doofus hasn't been yet - but he can't because he had the virus recently and was treated with anti-bodies.
Made it to Greenwood Cemetery today for a long walk. They say today was the shortest day - but it was light outside until 4:45-5PM, which has been about average for the last month or so. It may have been darker this morning? I wouldn't know - I didn't get up until 7:45 am - being on vacation and all.
Lovely day for a walk - for the first time in four days - we had blue sky, and little to no clouds for about five hours. As you can see from the pictures. (As long as they last - since I can't figure out how to upload them any other way. I've tried. I gave up. Enjoy them while they last. If you can't view them? Don't feel bad - I've discovered I can't view some folks pics either. )
The walk broke up the day, which was good. It also gave me needed sunshine - I was getting depressed with all the gray outside my window. (I'm a person who requires sunshine - not everyone does.) And it was meditative - mainly because for the most part, I was by myself in the cemetery - oh I saw a few cars here and there and a smattering of folks, but nothing major.
I feel like I've captured all the seasons at Greenwood now, on film or rather my iphone. And posted them here, instagram and FB for posterity. I've taken pictures of the same statues and hilltops and trees from multiple vantage points and at different times of day, year, seasons - so they all look different. Goes to show you - things change, and there's always something new to see.
On the way back, I stopped at the grocery store and got annoyed. I could not find what I wanted. Rock Cornish Game Hens were not available. Hams yes, hens no. I do not eat HAM. I don't like it. Never have. Not a pork person.Also it was crowded and some of the shelves bare, while others fine. Clorox wipes were back, but the meat/poultry and frozen food sections was problematic. Oh well, probably for the best.
The crowded aspect made me edgy. People were doing dumb things. One guy - the downstairs neighbor in apartment complex, who is a hoarder in one of the section eight apartments (been there since the 1950s), refuses to wear a mask anywhere. He wore it inside, then took it off while ordering food and wandering about. Meanwhile we had the folks feeling the need to take their time choosing things in the aisle with the checkout - six feet apart line.
(Granted - it was also the pet supply and cleaning products line, but they could have done what the rest of us did - which is look for that stuff while we stood in line, as opposed to trying to do it in a narrow aisle with a line of people in it. To be fair the aisles at Foodtown aren't as narrow as elsewhere, you can fit two people side by side. But big aisles like you would find in the suburbs - they aren't.)
Note to self - 2-3pm is not a good time to go grocery shopping. [Although 12-2pm is a good time to walk around the cemetery on week days.] (Apparently school is getting out at 2-2:30 now, which surprised me. I know it was that time, because I got home by 2:45. And kids and school buses were out and about in droves, along with parents picking them up. I thought school got out at 3:30-4PM? Did they shorten the hours due to COVID?)
Back home - the super had been busy and had managed to put up even more Christmas decorations.
I don't know, I think they've gone a bit overboard.
And of course to top it all off - this weird snow globe thing that plays Christmas Mall music non-stop...which I stared at for about ten minutes mesmerized in disbelief. It has moxie, I'll give it that.
The picture doesn't quite do it justice. And it kind of defies description. I took a video of it - but I'm not sure its possible to post it. (It's not I tried. Sorry.) Just imagine that it works like a snowglobe and plays things like Jingle Bells, and the First Noel but with no voices, kind of like how you'd hear them in a mall.
Oh well, Happy Winter Solistice Folks! Soon the sun will start to climb back and with it better times.
Skywatchers are in for an end-of-year treat. What has become known popularly as the “Christmas Star” is an especially vibrant planetary conjunction easily visible in the evening sky over the next two weeks as the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn come together, culminating on the night of Dec. 21.
In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the night sky, discovering the four moons of Jupiter – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. In that same year, Galileo also discovered a strange oval surrounding Saturn, which later observations determined to be its rings. These discoveries changed how people understood the far reaches of our solar system.
Thirteen years later, in 1623, the solar system’s two giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, traveled together across the sky. Jupiter caught up to and passed Saturn, in an astronomical event known as a “Great Conjunction.”
“You can imagine the solar system to be a racetrack, with each of the planets as a runner in their own lane and the Earth toward the center of the stadium,” said Henry Throop, astronomer in the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “From our vantage point, we’ll be able to be to see Jupiter on the inside lane, approaching Saturn all month and finally overtaking it on December 21.”
The planets regularly appear to pass each other in the solar system, with the positions of Jupiter and Saturn being aligned in the sky about once every 20 years.
What makes this year’s spectacle so rare, then? It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction.”
The closest alignment will appear just a tenth of a degree apart and last for a few days. On the 21st, they will appear so close that a pinkie finger at arm’s length will easily cover both planets in the sky. The planets will be easy to see with the unaided eye by looking toward the southwest just after sunset.
From our vantage point on Earth the huge gas giants will appear very close together, but they will remain hundreds of millions of miles apart in space. And while the conjunction is happening on the same day as the winter solstice, the timing is merely a coincidence, based on the orbits of the planets and the tilt of the Earth.
“Conjunctions like this could happen on any day of the year, depending on where the planets are in their orbits,” said Throop. “The date of the conjunction is determined by the positions of Jupiter, Saturn, and the Earth in their paths around the Sun, while the date of the solstice is determined by the tilt of Earth’s axis. The solstice is the longest night of the year, so this rare coincidence will give people a great chance to go outside and see the solar system.”
And my attempt to capture it on film along with the moon. The tiny speck is the conjunction.
Frankly it looks like a very bright star from this distance. I envy folks with binoculars and telescopes.
In other news..or rather in our on-going series New York vs. the Corona Virus and the Federal Government of the United States
New York got worried about the UK bringing a virulent strand of the virus to New York. So in an act of desperation, because the pesky Federal Government was ignoring it, asked if they could be added to the list of 120 countries requiring a negative COVID-19 test prior to landing and entering New York.
So lets' see - we have 120 countries (mainly Western Europe, China, Canada, New Zealand (who to my knowledge isn't letting anyone in until they quarantine for a month and test negative), and Australia) and now New York.
New York explained that yes, it knows it isn't a country - but, it feels there is cause for concern, if Canada, and the other 120 countries are taking this new alleged "virulent strain" discovered in the UK seriously, and Boris has done a 180 degree turn from opening the country up for Christmas to completely shutting it down. (If you are British - you already know about this. One of my British friends on FB has been upset for about a week now - on account of the fact that she's finally on vacation but stuck - and can't see her partner. (I don't know why she isn't living with her partner, I chose not to ask - it's not really any of my business. Someone else assumed her partner is male - I know the partner is female, I was surprised they didn't pick up on it. British friend declined to correct them for some reason. ) Plus, need we all forget - New York is more than happy to remind us - it got the kicked by the virus in March because someone from Italy brought it here. And if only the Federal Government - who knew the virus was loose in Europe as early as December - had stopped all European flights, we'd be okay now.
But New York is more than willing to forgive the Federal Government for its oversight in the spring, if it would do something now! Since it refuses to - mainly because the idiots in charge are more interested in wrangling over an election that was fairly decided back in November - New York has taken it upon itself (AGAIN) to do something. (By Again - back in February and March - New York developed its own testing program and protocol because the Federal Government refused to take NY seriously about its cases.)
This round it has requested (most likely begged) Virgin Airlines, Delta, and British Airways to not permit anyone to board flights for NY from the UK who had not tested negative for COVID-19 within 24 hours of boarding. It can't really stop the airlines from coming to New York, it has no jurisdiction over international airlines, but it can make people get tested prior to leaving the airport and throw them int quarantine - although that is hard to do without the airport and airlines assistance. To date - British Airways has agreed.
Suffice it to say - I'm really glad I'm not commuting to and from the Air Train building that serves JFK International airport at the moment.
I know I shouldn't find this funny - but it is. If this were a horror film, I'd be laughing my head off.
Our federal government passed inept about eight months ago, and landed into incompetent and dangerously negligent. So negligent in fact, that I can't help but wonder if we can all file a class action lawsuit against the GOP for gross and malicious negligence. Probably not. Just wishful thinking on my part. I keep wishing a hacker would steal the GOP's money and bankrupt the bastards.
In other news - Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy have agreed to a $406 million plan that for the first time would comprehensively stop and remove the Grumman groundwater pollution plaguing Bethpage and surrounding communities, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Monday.
After more than 40 years denying or downplaying what has become Long Island’s most intractable environmental crisis, the defense contractor, formerly Grumman Aerospace, and the Navy, which owned a portion of the company’s old facility, reached a deal in principle with the state that would install a series of new contaminant extraction wells inside and along the edges of the 4.3-mile-long, 2.1-mile-wide toxic plume."
And.. Covid vaccine tracker website that will track how many people everywhere have been vaccinated (assuming of course it works, hard to know at the moment - Biden was vaccinated today, along with his wife. The Doofus hasn't been yet - but he can't because he had the virus recently and was treated with anti-bodies.
Made it to Greenwood Cemetery today for a long walk. They say today was the shortest day - but it was light outside until 4:45-5PM, which has been about average for the last month or so. It may have been darker this morning? I wouldn't know - I didn't get up until 7:45 am - being on vacation and all.
Lovely day for a walk - for the first time in four days - we had blue sky, and little to no clouds for about five hours. As you can see from the pictures. (As long as they last - since I can't figure out how to upload them any other way. I've tried. I gave up. Enjoy them while they last. If you can't view them? Don't feel bad - I've discovered I can't view some folks pics either. )
The walk broke up the day, which was good. It also gave me needed sunshine - I was getting depressed with all the gray outside my window. (I'm a person who requires sunshine - not everyone does.) And it was meditative - mainly because for the most part, I was by myself in the cemetery - oh I saw a few cars here and there and a smattering of folks, but nothing major.
I feel like I've captured all the seasons at Greenwood now, on film or rather my iphone. And posted them here, instagram and FB for posterity. I've taken pictures of the same statues and hilltops and trees from multiple vantage points and at different times of day, year, seasons - so they all look different. Goes to show you - things change, and there's always something new to see.
On the way back, I stopped at the grocery store and got annoyed. I could not find what I wanted. Rock Cornish Game Hens were not available. Hams yes, hens no. I do not eat HAM. I don't like it. Never have. Not a pork person.Also it was crowded and some of the shelves bare, while others fine. Clorox wipes were back, but the meat/poultry and frozen food sections was problematic. Oh well, probably for the best.
The crowded aspect made me edgy. People were doing dumb things. One guy - the downstairs neighbor in apartment complex, who is a hoarder in one of the section eight apartments (been there since the 1950s), refuses to wear a mask anywhere. He wore it inside, then took it off while ordering food and wandering about. Meanwhile we had the folks feeling the need to take their time choosing things in the aisle with the checkout - six feet apart line.
(Granted - it was also the pet supply and cleaning products line, but they could have done what the rest of us did - which is look for that stuff while we stood in line, as opposed to trying to do it in a narrow aisle with a line of people in it. To be fair the aisles at Foodtown aren't as narrow as elsewhere, you can fit two people side by side. But big aisles like you would find in the suburbs - they aren't.)
Note to self - 2-3pm is not a good time to go grocery shopping. [Although 12-2pm is a good time to walk around the cemetery on week days.] (Apparently school is getting out at 2-2:30 now, which surprised me. I know it was that time, because I got home by 2:45. And kids and school buses were out and about in droves, along with parents picking them up. I thought school got out at 3:30-4PM? Did they shorten the hours due to COVID?)
Back home - the super had been busy and had managed to put up even more Christmas decorations.
I don't know, I think they've gone a bit overboard.
And of course to top it all off - this weird snow globe thing that plays Christmas Mall music non-stop...which I stared at for about ten minutes mesmerized in disbelief. It has moxie, I'll give it that.
The picture doesn't quite do it justice. And it kind of defies description. I took a video of it - but I'm not sure its possible to post it. (It's not I tried. Sorry.) Just imagine that it works like a snowglobe and plays things like Jingle Bells, and the First Noel but with no voices, kind of like how you'd hear them in a mall.
Oh well, Happy Winter Solistice Folks! Soon the sun will start to climb back and with it better times.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-22 02:18 am (UTC)I too rather benefit from sunshine. I love that this house sometimes has a fair bit of natural light coming into it.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-22 02:34 am (UTC)This may or may not explain why I prefer British humor to American humor. Embarrassment humor makes me cringe. I will often try to waylay it with self-deprecation and snark. It doesn't always work. Americans love embarrassment humor..for some reason.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-22 03:00 am (UTC)I could in fact see Saturn's rings with my binoculars, but not having a good steady place to rest them on, it wasn't easy. I could in fact see both Jupiter and Saturn with just my eyes, but it helped having seen them through the binoculars first.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-22 03:47 am (UTC)You saw a lot more than I did. It may have a lot to do with where folks are located in the US? Arizona apparently had a great view. It was slightly overcast, so we saw mostly the light where I am. And in Ohio, they saw two lights close together (according to sci-fi writer John Scalzi's page).
no subject
Date: 2020-12-22 01:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-22 11:26 pm (UTC)