Winter Solstice 2021

     I still hadn’t seen Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) and since the sky was looking rather good, I decided to take a trip up to Wagman Observatory to see if I could change that fact. The chances of seeing it are rapidly disappearing. 

    Since it was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, the sun would be setting at 4:56. The three day past full moon would be rising a few minutes past 7, giving me an hour or two of darkness before it rises. I arrived on the top of the hill at 4:30 with plenty of time to spare. Other than a couple deer that ignored me, I was the only one there. The sun was sitting just above the trees on the horizon but unfortunately, so was a large cloud.

    I set up the tripod and camera, got out my binoculars and scanned around a bit. I took a few pictures and worried about the big cloud.

    I saw Venus shortly after the sun dropped below the horizon. A little later I saw Jupiter. Using the binoculars, I quickly found Saturn. The three planets were in a nice straight line.

     Now if this where a perfect world, the comet would be below Saturn and off to the left of Venus. Sounds rather simple to find…

    The clouds provided a spectacular canvas for the sun to illuminate. As the sun sunk down, the sky started out with an orange tinge which slowly turned towards red. The lower the sun dropped below the horizon the deeper the color became. The tops of the clouds were dark gray, making the scene that much more dramatic!

    Turning around towards the east, the clouds were pink, looking to the south, the shades morphed into the purple range. During the next half hour or more the color show continued. I can’t remember seeing a more spectacular sky! The reds in the west were getting darker and deeper while the colors behind me started fading into grays and blacks. The edge of the western horizon stayed red long after everything went dark, silhouetting the trees. There was a bit of clearing towards the north but even with binoculars, I couldn’t see any stars yet. The clouds moved over to hide Venus and Saturn from view.

    Slowly the cloud drifted south and eventually Venus reappeared from behind it. Try as I might, I couldn’t see the comet, I felt that it had already gone below the horizon.

    I packed up my gear, accepting the fact that once again, I missed it. Behind me, hundreds of stars had appeared. I spent awhile exploring them with my binoculars. I visited the Andromeda Galaxy, almost directly overhead, the Hyades, the Pleiades and even the Coat Hanger Cluster to name just a few. I drifted through the constellations and lost myself in the beauty of the tiny dots scattered everywhere. Eventually the cold and hunger pulled me away and I headed home for dinner. When I arrived home, the moon was hanging above the eastern horizon.

    While I was searching for the comet, trying to see it through the clouds and haze I couldn’t help but think about the old Yiddish proverb, “We plan, God laughs”. Yes, I’m sure He was laughing this evening, perhaps even thinking, “I gave you that wonderful sunset, what more do you want?”

    The sunset show was the definitely the highlight of the evening. The views of the stars through the binoculars before I left came close behind! I spent some time hanging out on the hillside with a couple deer. Only a few cars went by and it was nice and quiet. It was a great way to celebrate the Winter Solstice!

    My own thoughts about the comet…eh, there will be others!