On New Year's Eve Melissa and I were invited to our friends' rural farm home to celebrate with them and others the changing of the year with food and good conversation. We had never been there before and gratefully availed ourselves of the Waze app to know where to turn on the zigzagging way, with dirt roads presenting their own challenges as we approached our destination. Once there, we enjoyed ourselves while soaking in the ambiance of being way out in the countryside of Gilchrist County. The sky was cloudless and the stars shone brilliantly...as well as the planets: there were three of them (or four if you looked down and counted the Earth): Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. I could easily make out red Mars, which was the easternmost, just below the zodiac constellation Gemini (technically it's in Cancer, but no one can make out that faint constellation). I had to look up later which of the other two was Jupiter and which was Saturn. Jupiter is in Taurus and Saturn, in the west part of the sky, is in Aquarius...just south of Pegasus. I liked the fact that I could look all the way down to any horizon and see stars without noticeable interference from city lights. Of course, out here as well as where I live, there are plenty of trees to block the view. We enjoyed our visit, which I wouldn't have been able to be a part of had I not retired. One door closes and many more open. Speaking of more opportunities, I'm looking forward to seeing more of my local planetarium once its January schedule resumes after the holiday break. It's the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College, directed by James Albury...
Thursday, January 2, 2025
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