The slow march to the shortest day and longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere ends today, the winter solstice.
Here in central Idaho, it has been a day of fun (running snow-covered trails with the boys this morning) and celestial wonders, mixed with relief that our daylight hours will finally start lengthening.
It’s been foggy, cloudy, even drizzly for the past 24 hours, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun appear just before sunset.
As the sun sank toward the horizon, the clouds were being pushed oh-so-gently aside on a slight breeze, opening up the sky.
Maybe I’d be lucky enough to see the “great” Saturn-Jupiter conjunction? It’s been nearly 400 years since the two planets appeared this close together.
Checking, waiting, checking again…yes! There they are!
The two planets look like a single, bright, lumpy star to the naked eye.
I like to think this is an omen of good things to come. We’re due.
Happy winter solstice to those in the northern hemisphere!
Feature image: Stonehenge, by Howard Walsh from Pixabay.
Wild Sensibility 
Happy Solstice, the shortest day of the longest frickin year in history. 😀
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Amen (says this pagan)!
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Great shot of the conjunction! The clouds and sunset add dramatic effect. Happy Solstice!
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Thanks! Same to you!
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Lucky! That cloud mass was just small enough to move and give you a view. Phone photo?
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Yes, my Pixel 3a. I was surprised the photos turned out at all because usually its low-light photos are just blurs. It was a combo of no zoom and the “night sight” setting that worked.
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You are lucky you got to see that event. Great photos of it and the surrounding sky. The only clouds in the sky here at that time, were right where the planets were.
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I was lucky. Sorry you didn’t get to see it. I thought I’d missed it but kept checking and finally the clouds parted in just the right way.
Wish I’d had a better camera, but my phone did a decent job, better than I expected.
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We had clouds last night and missed the conjunction. I’ll have to wait for the next one.
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Haha! You might need to master time travel while you wait 😉
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Im really looking forward to longer days, greetings from Sweden 🙂
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Greetings! You’re living at an even higher latitude than I am, so your winter days must be really short!
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Luckily we have a few hours of grey skies in Stockholm, it is much worse further north. But going to places like Gällivare or Jokkmokk in summer is amazing as the sun never goes down 🙂
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Due? We are dang straight overdue. And I believe 2021 will bring better tidings.
Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and a GREAT New Year, RW.
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Overdue. Yes.
Happy All Holidays to you and yours as well, Marc. I cannot wait for 2021 to arrive. Even more eagerly awaiting 1-20-21! Cheers!!
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It was so cloudy no chance but you got a great shot of the alignment. Wonderful.
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Thanks, Shelle. Had you been able to see it I’m sure your photos would have been MUCH better 🙂
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I am so behind in blog reading and writing.
Beautiful, perfect photos. I tried to see it here but we had thick cloud cover so- no luck. Our once in 400 years chance was blown- oh well. Thankful for those who captured it 😀
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