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#916099 12/05/16 03:29 PM
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In the northern hemisphere the days are getting shorter and shorter. The winter solstice will occur on December 21.

For six months, each day has been shorter than the last, the Sun lower in the sky. Will it disappear altogether and leave the people bereft in the dark cold winter? The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and is associated with more festivals than any other astronomical event.

Winter Solstice


Mona Evans
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I should note that although those of us who live in the northern hemisphere are coming up to the winter solstice, there's a flip side to this. People living in the southern hemisphere are headed into summer.

Each day for six months after the winter solstice, the Sun rises a bit higher in the sky. It reaches the maximum height at the summer solstice, the longest day. Evidence of rituals and festivals at the times of the solstices goes back thousands of years.

Summer Solstice - St John's Day


Mona Evans
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Season's Greetings from Hubble

Quote:
This year, say it in stars! Send your friends and relatives best wishes for the season with our printable holiday cards. Messages of joy and peace are illuminated by the natural splendor of the universe. The cards are designed to be printed out at photo stores or online photo labs, though you can also use a home printer.


There are 37 cards that incorporate images from the space telescope and designed to be used for any winter holiday. I have also used them to send e-greetings.

Last edited by Mona - Astronomy; 12/24/16 03:39 AM.

Mona Evans
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If you're dreaming of a white Christmas, the cosmos may have something of interest. How about deep snow on one of Saturn's moons, a gigantic Christmas tree whose lights are baby stars, a snowman on an asteroid or an Einstein ring?

Cosmic White Christmas

If you're a member of Pinterest you can see images of all of the objects mentioned in the article.


Mona Evans
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Galactic Winter Games tells of some astronomical objects related to wintry days.

Welcome to the Galactic Winter Games, a starry tribute to Earth's Winter Olympic Games. It's a tour of some really cool cosmic sights – as well as some hot ones, such as one of the biggest explosions in the Universe.

If you belong to Pinterest, you can see images of the things named in the article in Night Sky Olympics.

http://www.pinterest.com/astrobella/night-sky-olympics/


Mona Evans
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Happy Holidays comes with the letters that have been used in lieu of the alphabet.

The "letters" in this holiday message come from galaxy images provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Galaxy Zoo. Credit: Tony Rice.


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Christmas is a special day with a magic of its own. A Christmas eclipse is a great treat and centuries ago a long-awaited comet finally showed up on Christmas day. On the other hand, imagine spending the holidays a quarter of a million miles from home, as the crew of Apollo 8 did.

Christmas in the skies


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It's the northern hemisphere's winter solstice on Wednesday (Dec 21). This would be the lowest Sun position in an analemma. What is an analemma?

And here is an example of an analemma - it's made up of images taken by Robert T. Price. A northern analemma would look like this, but the Sun would be the lowest in the sky on December 21. This analemma was made in Bethanga, Victoria in Australia, and the Sun's lowest point was in June!


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Wow! And this isn't an exoplanet with five suns! It's last year's solstice Sun at Lulworth Cove along the Jurassic Coast of England. The composite follows the arc of the Sun from sunrise to sunset.

Erosion by wave action has produced the cove's remarkable shape in the coastal limestone layers. The cove's narrow entrance is responsible, creating a circular wave diffraction pattern. The wave pattern is made clearer by the low solstice Sun.

Image Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)


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Amazing cool!

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