Category Archives: Astronomy

Winter Solstice 2025

As the light dies at the end of the shortest day of the year, we try to supplement the remaining light in the beautiful sunset with those of our own celebrations.

You can think and believe what you want about the Bible and the story of Jesus’ birth, but I’ll guarantee you that he wasn’t born in late December or the middle of winter. Too many things point to a spring birth. But the reason the early Christians celebrated around the winter solstice was so that they would blend in, not stand out, and not be targets for persecution.

The winter solstice was known and celebrated a thousand year or more before the Roman Empire. Pre-historic peoples needed to know the seasons in order to know when to plant crops, when to hunt, how to survive. The days gettting shorter and colder had to be terrifying with no knowledge of what was causing it (Earth’s axial tilt) and whether or not longer, warmer days would return. So when the solstice came and the days started to lengthen again, it was a cause for celebration, often with symbols of light being prominent.

Millenia later, I put up a gazillion Christmas lights. Slightly different reasoning and knowledge bases perhaps, same celebration.

Welcome back to the light!

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Filed under Astronomy, Christmas Lights, Photography, Sunsets

Supermoon Over Christmas Lights

At the Forever Home, Friday is trash pickup day. So Thursday night is take-out-the-trash-bins night. Last night I was out shortly after sunset when, from the viewpoint at the curb, the Cold supermoon was just rising above the house.

Not bad, eh?

Every single day there’s still a moment when I stop, look around, and say, “DAMN! We live here!!!”

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Filed under Astronomy, Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography

Cold Supermoon Rising

That’s “cold” as in “Cold Moon” is the name of the December full Moon, so while it was nippy in SoCal, it wasn’t really cold.

With the Moon rising to the northeast, it came up right behind these power line towers as seen from the kitchen. It looked bitchin’!

To get the shot from the back yard, however, I was on a small ladder way off at the side of the yard. No problemo!

A couple of minutes later, from my usual spot on the pergola, the Moon was starting to get into a thin layer of clouds at almost the EXACT moment of being full. The Moon was 100.00% full at 17:00 PST – this picture was taken at 16:49, just eleven minutes away from being full.

Near perigee (the closest point to Earth in its eliptical orbit) the Moon was something like 30% brighter than it would be at apogee (the furthest point from Earth). Thus the “super” Moon.

It was stunning to see!

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39ºF + 99% Full Moon + Clouds

Quite the recipe for a bracing and brisk and beautiful night!

But wait, there’s more!

Blow up the image to full size and you’ll see Orion just to the right and below the center. And the “V” (pointed to the right) of Taurus just under the Moon, in that notch in the clouds.

And of course, even if you didn’t blow the image up to full size, that really bright object just off of the left edge is Jupiter.

Wouldn’t it be neat to just lay out on a lawn chair and watch for a couple of hours? Preferably in a thick, down-filled sleeping bag. 39ºF now, headed toward 32ºF before dawn.

Nippy!

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Weather

Clear In The East Tonight

More cloudy, cool, windy, drizzly, with another larger storm coming on Thursday and Friday, but tonight when I went out it had gotten crystal clear in the east. Orion was high, along with all of the other bright winter constellations.

A simple iPhone shot, setting it down on a garden hose box and getting a 30-second exposure. The brightest object, in the lower left, is Jupiter, with Castor and Pollux in Gemini above and to the left of it. Orion’s in the center right and you can clearly see the nebula that’s the center “star” in the “sword.” The “V” shape of Taurus is just to the right of center at the top edge, and the bright star in the lower right, just above the pergola and clouds, is Sirius.

With the chill (it’s down into the upper 30’s right now) it’s not surprising to smell wood smoke on the breeze as a lot of folks are using their fireplaces.

And of course, off in this direction, are the sounds of freight train whistles.

Yep, we done picked a good one for a Forever Home!

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Filed under Astronomy, Forever Home, Photography, Weather

Proof Of Life – November 11th

Happy Veteran’s Day!

In addition to Orion in the evening sky, my simple iPhone pictures will also show Taurus nearby.

It’s the “V”-shaped group of stars on the right here. You should be able to spot it pretty easily a bit “above” and to the left of Orion.  Assuming, of course, that you’re north of the Equator on Earth – if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, it will all look upside down. I understand the details of why that is but I’ve never been down there to see it, nor have I ever seen the Southern Cross, Magellenic Clouds, and other southern sky constellations.

One of these days…

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Hello Once Again, Old Friend

I do so dearly love the Northern Hemisphere winter sky. Tons of bright stars and easy-to-identify constellations, not to mention naked eye nebula and clusters. The King of them all is Orion.

(Click on it to blow it up – it’s a nice picture.)

Now rising to by 10:00 PM or so to hover above the water tanks and power lines to our east, Orion is easily identified by the four bright stars making up the shoulders and legs, the three stars in the belt, the three objects (two stars and a bright nebula) making up the sword. It doesn’t take much of a dark sky or even a cheap pair of old Sears binoculars to see the bright blue color of Rigel and the orange-ish red of Betelgeuse. (We’re still waiting for Betelgeuse to go supernova and be as bright as the moon for a while – any day in the next 5,000 year or so…)

Even an older generation iPhone camera held still on top of a cinder block wall and fighting with the glow of a Moon just past full can easily pull out Orion’s details.

Welcome back Old Friend, the constellation and stars that I first remember learning to recognize when I couldn’t have been more than four or five. Another trip around the Sun for us all, another opportunity to greet you in the chilly evening sky and discuss the nature of things.

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Filed under Astronomy, Forever Home, Photography

My SCE Can’t Get Any More AUXier

…and I still think I’m losing ground.

(If you don’t know what “SCE to AUX” thing means, check here or just Google it.)

But the full “beaver” supermoon was stunning. And when I went out into the back yard and the security light snapped on, the owl that was sitting out took off right over me and was STUNNING!!!

(Ignore the bright blue dot just above the power lines, it’s not “real,” just an internal reflection of the super bright moon in the iPhone’s compound lens.)

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography

Proof Of Life – November 04th

Still messed up from the Daylight Saving Time shift. Need a good night’s sleep, unlikely to get it.

The odd hours do have me saying hello to Venus and the sunrise – not getting old yet!

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Sunsets

Venus – Morning Goddess

The only good thing about getting up early enough to meet the movers at 7AM is getting to see brilliant Venus in the morning sky.

Well, that and finally getting that last loose end paritally tied up. (“Partially” because everything’s at the house now and out of storage, but I still have to put stuff away at the house. Progress is progress, I’ll take it!)

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