2020 Dec. Goat Daily Rant 21
10Rant: Stolen rant - notable day.
Topic: Winter Solstice and Christmas Star
Thanks, @tinamarie1974 for the theme. Yoink!
I intended to do a simple “happy winter solstice” rant, but in review of goats past, I found that @tinamarie1974 had posted a Solstice thread for Summer of 2019.
So I’m here to contrast the warm, happy summer of 2019, populated by scantily-clad healthy people with the cold, bitter pandemic winter of 2020, where everybody it seems is sick and we’re bundled up and hidden underneath layers of clothing and even our faces are covered.
Y’all may have heard about the close conjunction in the sky between Jupiter and Saturn; they call this the Christmas Star, with the theory that such a conjunction was observed around 2020 years ago, associated with the birth of Jesus. Regardless, if you get the chance to go outside and the sky is clear enough and it’s not too late in the day, you can get a look yourself. Since it’s closely following the sunset, it’s too late as of right now on my watch for the East coast, but West Coast still has a shot. Try to view it before it gets completely dark.
- 5 comments, 13 replies
- Comment
/giphy nod
/giphy giggle
Btw. The Christmas star was really cool. Luckily I remembered to sneak a peak before it got too late.
@tinamarie1974 Overcast and grey here; no chance to see it. I have observed the two in close proximity as of late, just tonight was the closest conjunction.
@PocketBrain aawww. Sorry you missed it.
@PocketBrain here ya go
@tinamarie1974
@PocketBrain @tinamarie1974
very nice shot TM. I was actually on a plane flying from ATL to BOS at sunset, but TOTALLY forgot to look out the window for the conjunction…D’OH!
@chienfou Thanks! That would have been a great vantage point! My sister took a better one I will have to see if I can find it, there is a shooting star or something shooting across the sky.
@chienfou ok well after looking again, it may be an airplane…but it is still pretty
@tinamarie1974
also very nice!
I forgot to look but likely was not visible where I was at the right time.
Stonehenge was live-streaming for the solstice. I plan to watch the recording later. I was able to visit a few years back and would love to return someday.
@speediedelivery
yeah, we went years ago. I read they built a ‘by-pass tunnel’ that was quite the controversy.
Saw it briefly by naked eye yesterday, but clouds came in before I could get to any optics.
Today was forecast to be grossly overcast, so I spent a few hours watching astronomy porn from around the world. I think I did see it with some decent binoculars between clouds and branches for about a minute though.
Tomorrow some friends and I are hoping to take some serious amateur optics to a friary in the middle of local-ish farmland and do an astronomy evening for the Friars. (The Bethlehem star has some interesting significance for the Franciscans.) Hopefully the atmospherics will hold! A dry run last night by a couple of friends proved more challenging than we had expected.
@mehcuda67 LOL astronomy porn. I did the same, it has been cloudy just in the wrong place in the sky here past few days. Hoping to get a glimpse with the astro binoculars one of these evenings if the clouds will play nice.
Sky? What’s that? In Ohio in the winter we have high clouds or thick clouds or low clouds or thin clouds. But I guess the sky is still there behind the clouds. I don’t want to see the sky at night here…that means it is cold!
Saw 'em tonight.
They look like this:
•.@mike808
@PocketBrain
