We drove over to Palmer Park to see the Christmas Star, i.e., the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which happens every 20 years. However, this year, they are the closest they have been since 1623, when Galileo was alive. Plus, it’s the first time in 800 years that their conjunction happened at night so we could see it. Throw in the Winter Solstice, and of course I was willing to give it a go. At first we were the only ones there, but as the sun set, more people arrived. People who evidently had not heard of social distancing or mask wearing.
Grant felt uncomfortable so he headed back to the car before it was dark. I hung onto my little seat on the end of the board walk. As soon as I’d spotted the planets, I looked at them with my binoculars and left. I wished I had been comfortable asking people to respect my space. However, when I got to the parking space, I realized I could see the planets right between the trees. I showed them to Grant, then we left. As usual, the humidity was about 80%, so even with mostly clear skies, it wasn’t really that spectacular. I suspect if we were in the desert, we’d have been wowed.
I decided to look again when we got home. I could see the planets from my back yard. As the sky got darker and darker, they shown brighter and brighter. Eventually, they got lower enough on the horizon to disappear behind our banana plants.
We lit all our candles in honor of the solstice and ate dinner.
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