As long as we're breathing, we won't be leaving

[sovay]

For months I have been looking forward to the four-hundred-year great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, but the sky is as mottled with cloud as blue agate and looks unlikely to clear by evening. I am reminding myself that the planets dance whether I can see them changing partners or not, the sun returns whether it is a bright short day or a grey one, without my observation stars go nova and are born. Happy solstice! Whether it is the beginning of a new age or the last of an old year, let's keep being here to witness the light.

Comments

[pameladean]

This is a nice post for me to see. The sun came out earlier, apparently didn't like what it saw, and retreated, and now there's a thick band of dark gray clouds all along the southern and western horizons. I am sad, but I've been lucky in other astronomical viewings and will, I hope and trust, be lucky again.

P.

[kathmandu]

Happy Solstice to you too!

I am looking forward to the return of daylight-after-5-pm.

[ashlyme]

Bah - I was hoping you at least would get to see it. Happy Solstice to you!

[asakiyume]

Cloudy here too, but I'm looking forward to (hopefully) catching them as they wave goodbye to one another over the next day or two.

Here for witnessing the light, for sure.

[gwynnega]

Happy Solstice!

[choco_frosh]

Happy shortest day! The nights get shorter from here on out.

[sovay]

Bah - I was hoping you at least would get to see it. Happy Solstice to you!

We think we might have—the sky cleared in patches around sunset and just after dusk, we spotted some planets from our back deck, including one that was unusually bright and the wrong location or color to be Venus or Mars. The clouds have rolled in since, but we are thinking we might have caught the conjunction after all. I would have thought it was Jupiter by itself otherwise.

[sovay]

This is a nice post for me to see.

I'm glad!

The sun came out earlier, apparently didn't like what it saw, and retreated, and now there's a thick band of dark gray clouds all along the southern and western horizons. I am sad, but I've been lucky in other astronomical viewings and will, I hope and trust, be lucky again.

There are plenty of things to see in the sky.

[sovay]

Happy Solstice to you too!

Thank you!

I am looking forward to the return of daylight-after-5-pm.

What a novelty, right?

[sovay]

Cloudy here too, but I'm looking forward to (hopefully) catching them as they wave goodbye to one another over the next day or two.

I hope you do! We'll be looking, too.

Here for witnessing the light, for sure.

*hugs*

[sovay]

Happy Solstice!

Thank you! (Dare I ask about visibility conditions at your end of the continent?)

[sartorias]

i actually saw it, with my naked eyes, last night! Son pointed it out for me, and there were the two tiny dots close together. (Since we haven't had any clouds for months and months, that was never an issue--I assumed I wouldn't see it because of light pollution.)

[sovay]

Happy shortest day! The nights get shorter from here on out.

Thank you! Maybe I will sleep more for irony's sake.

[sovay]

i actually saw it, with my naked eyes, last night! Son pointed it out for me, and there were the two tiny dots close together.

Oh, wonderful! I am so happy you did. We think we might have glimpsed it briefly tonight after all.

(Since we haven't had any clouds for months and months, that was never an issue--I assumed I wouldn't see it because of light pollution.)

I am glad the great conjunction shone through.

[selkie]

I saw what I would have called Jupiter in its place where it always is, before we got the Great Cloud Conjunction. Hmm.

Everything still happens so much down here on earth, but it’s nice we can look up and see planets.

[gwynnega]

It's looking pretty clear!

[sovay]

It's looking pretty clear!

Good luck!

[sovay]

I saw what I would have called Jupiter in its place where it always is, before we got the Great Cloud Conjunction. Hmm.

Congratulations, I believe you have witnessed a celestial event.

Everything still happens so much down here on earth, but it’s nice we can look up and see planets.

I really enjoy it.

[ashlyme]

Yesss!

[nineweaving]

What luck!

Almost certainly, it was Jupiter. I caught a window in the cloud, and Saturn was essentially hidden.

Nine

[nineweaving]

...let's keep being here to witness the light.

This.

So very glad you caught a glimpse of the conjunction.

Nine

[umadoshi]

Happy solstice!

[rosefox]

Skies are pretty clear here... but I thought I'd go out and look just now, and it turns out they set at 6:51 p.m. Oops! Maybe tomorrow I'll see them close together, if I remember to look at the right time.

[cyphomandra]

Happy solstice!! I tried looking last night, but unfortunately the cloud was pretty thick and all I got was an impression of where something might be. Over here it is ridiculously muggy and humid, and I am waiting for 4kg of cherries to arrive (my personal fruit of Christmas! When I was in the UK it was the main thing I missed)

[sholio]

It looks like from the comments that you finally got to see it! We are equally unsure - it may possibly have been house lights on a nearby hill, but it may also have been Jupiter and Saturn peeking through trees (it was very dark, and most of the sky was cloudy) so we have decided to believe it was the latter.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, I'm sorry the weather refused to play ball. It is a very inconvenient thing, really. And happy solstice anyway!

[tree_and_leaf]

We had thick fog all day. Happy solstice none the less!

[sovay]

Yesss!

It made us very happy.

[sovay]

Almost certainly, it was Jupiter. I caught a window in the cloud, and Saturn was essentially hidden.

I am so glad the clouds obliged for you, too.

[sovay]

So very glad you caught a glimpse of the conjunction.

Thank you!

*hugs*

[sovay]

Happy solstice!

Thank you!

[sovay]

Maybe tomorrow I'll see them close together, if I remember to look at the right time.

I hope you do!

(I had to reconcile myself to the fact that under no circumstances was I going to see the moment of closest separation itself, since in our skies it occurred around one in the afternoon.)

[sovay]

Happy solstice!! I tried looking last night, but unfortunately the cloud was pretty thick and all I got was an impression of where something might be.

Thank you! I hope you get a clearer night to catch them while they're still reasonably close.

Over here it is ridiculously muggy and humid, and I am waiting for 4kg of cherries to arrive (my personal fruit of Christmas! When I was in the UK it was the main thing I missed)

I can see that! I automatically assume cherries at this time of year come dried.

[sovay]

It looks like from the comments that you finally got to see it!

We can't think what else it could have been! It was definitely not an airplane, of which we get an unfair number due to living partly under a flight path.

We are equally unsure - it may possibly have been house lights on a nearby hill, but it may also have been Jupiter and Saturn peeking through trees (it was very dark, and most of the sky was cloudy) so we have decided to believe it was the latter.

I trust your assessment.

[sovay]

Aw, I'm sorry the weather refused to play ball. It is a very inconvenient thing, really. And happy solstice anyway!

Thank you! See reply to ashlyme: we think we saw at least a fragment of it!

[sovay]

We had thick fog all day. Happy solstice none the less!

Likewise! The sun's still here.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, good!

[larryhammer]

I've been watching the dance for a few weeks, since a camping trip when I realized that I didn't recognize the brightest star close to Jupiter and had to look up what it was. Last night the sky was nicely clear, after a warm day in the mid-70s, for a nice viewing.

Of more interest to me actually is that Venus, after a few months of brightness in the bathroom window during the pre-dawn has now dropped below the palm trees and may now be out of Luciferous mode. Should be up in the evening in a few weeks, I think.

I've also been watching Mars slowly move up the eastern sky, so that it's now almost overhead at sunset.