Great Conjunction and the Solstice

Jupiter and Saturn

I was planning to write a short blog post about the solstice, which occurred locally this morning around 2:00am, but upon looking up some information about it, I learned about a truly rare event that will happen in the sky tonight: the close (appearing) conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn right around sunset. On this website, I found some interesting information:

This year's great conjunction also marks the first time in nearly 800 years since the planets aligned at night and skywatchers were able to witness the event. (The 1623 conjunction wasn't visible to skywatchers on much of the Earth because of its location in the night sky, so the last time the event was visible was in 1226.) 

Wow! That's a pretty rare event, all right. And because it is happening at this time of year, it is also called the "Christmas Star." If you want more information about this event, just click on the above link from Space.com. 

The winter/summer solstice happens annually, marking the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer south of the Equator. After today, our nights will slowly begin to shorten, and by the end of January, we'll be able to notice the difference. 

I love to pay attention to the sky, when there's actually a chance to see something other than rain pouring out of it. We're in the middle of a real gully washer right now, but it's supposed to stop and give us some sunshine for a few days. Do you know that phrase? Of course I looked it up:

When it rains in Oklahoma it mean rains you can drown in with your raincoat on. Oklahoma is where the gully washer was invented. Oklahoma is home of the original frog strangler. 

Oboy. Now I'm wondering about "frog strangler," but I'm going to leave it alone. This could go on forever!

:-)