Two astronomical events occured today.
And both were worth getting up for, and were worth running around outside on a cold February morning in various outfits of indoor clothing, in order to capture these special moments on sandisc.*
*Who uses film these days?
The first, was another look at the Jupiter-Venus conjunction.
Very early this morning, Bruce woke me by saying dreamily, "Look, I can see Jupiter and Venus from my pillow. I'm Jupiter and you're Venus." I couldn't see anything except a blur. But after putting on glasses--great invention!--I looked, I saw, and I ran for the camera. I had to actually go outside to get the picture. But here they are, about 1 degree apart, just above the right end of the dawn-colored clouds. Venus is to the left of Jupiter.
When I slipped back in bed, Bruce murmured that perhaps he'd warm me up by bringing Jupiter even closer to Mars.
After a decent interval, as the sun was actually rising, I got up again, to take a picture of the sun rising on this day, February 2, 2008, also known as Candlemas, Ground Hog's Day, and the Winter-Spring Cross-Quarter Day.
Astronomically speaking, the earth is now half-way between the solstice and the equinox. In the northern hemisphere, we are moving from winter to spring. We are six weeks out from the longest night of the year, and still six-weeks shy of equal day and night. Today is the first day of spring according to the Old Calendar, but Punxsutawny Phil in Pennsylvania, did see his shadow, so officially there are six more weeks of winter.
The new calendar agrees with Phil, but encouraged by the noticably increasing length of daylight, I am going with the old calendar this year.
So, since it was the first day of spring, I sprinted out into the meadow in nightgown and slippers to get a picture of the sun rising over the house on this lovely, clear cross-quarter day. So what if the temperature was 20 degrees, Farenheit, mind you--it's spring!
But Phil had spoken--or at least moved quickly back into his den--so, officially we are doomed to six more weeks of winter. And I suspect that those living in the midwest and northeast can understand that today!
But of course, there was the minority report:
Zoey and Lily did not budge, nor were they afraid of their own shadows. They snoozed comfortably on the dedicated canine daybed in my office.
They are definitely predicting an early spring.
I hope they're right!
7 comments:
What dedication, to go outside at night in the freezing cold to bring us pretty pictures of Jupiter and Venus! And if Bruce had Any idea that you would leap out of bed to take pictures and then come back with frozen feet, he gets major "good husband" points for telling you about Venus & Jupiter.
Wow! I saw that conjunction (I've been getting up and going out early to "pee the dog")and wondered what it was. It was beautiful!
I love your pictures! My older son, during his latest speech eval, was shown a picture of a film roll and didn't know what it was.
I pointed out to the ST that perhaps the test was out of date. We got our first digital camera before DS was born. But she checked the date on the test and it was 2007. Perhaps the test company needs to get on the 21st century bandwagon :)
NEAT! It has been too overcast here to much of anything, so we just talked a bit about it. Our telescope is getting lonely. we need some clear skies!
Beautiful sky shot.
I say spring will come early this year. Such a long winter!
Are those dogs both Boxers or Boxer mixed? They look a lot like our Boxers--we have a white (with some dark spots) and a fawn w/ flash Boxer....Please answer in another post--I don't tend to find comments back since I use a reader.
Thanks for all your pictures! I've enjoyed seeing your world.
Thanks, all!
Annemarie: I have tried to access your e-mail through blogger, but your profile is not available, so I can't even access your blog.
Both dogs are really Heinz 57s.
Zoey--the white dog with black spots--is probably a greyhound-Aussie cattle-dog cross. There have been a lot of those coming out of ABQ for a number of years. She has the hips and slight build of the greyhound--and the couch potato temperment, and the protective herding urges of a cattle dog. When she was younger, she actually herded the cats!
Lily--the brown, white and black dog was labeled by the pound as being a Harrier cross. Probably not as there are not many Harrier's in the western US. But the vet thinks she's probably a hound/shepherd/collie mix--she has some traits like a boxer, but she is not brachycephalic, and although sturdy, she is not as robust as a boxer. She has a long nose, and the sturdy legs of a hound dog. She also eats like a hound, but is protective like a Shepherd. Ultimately, she's a "dawg" as they would say in Eastern New Mexico.
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