December 24, 2016
Spot Venus
There!
The brightest spot of light in the sky. Far too bright to be just a star, but bright enough to know that it isn’t a star. So bright that if you look at it intently, even with the naked eyes, you would be able to make out a circular silvery hue all around it.
Although the Goddess was not seen from atop a mountain, it really did look like it was burning like a silver flame. That was Venus seen from the flat lands of the Netherlands yesterday evening.
With the dusk setting in amidst the blueish hue of the sky, the sight was much too mesmerising to ignore. Not too far away from Venus was another bright light that could be seen from the naked eye, but far too difficult to be captured on the camera phone. That was Mars.
Winter Solstice’s debuted just 2 days ago. That means, we are now right in the middle of having the shortest several days of the year. It gets dark by 4.30 pm and by 5 pm, it would be pitch black. It’s been pretty chilly, too. The wind has been howling away!
But all that seems to be forgotten the moment we look up at the sky. The nights, when not cloudy, have been beautiful. And to be able to see some of the nearby planets so clearly is really such a treat. It’s been fascinating!
And in no relation to the planets which we’ve managed to spot with our naked eyes in the last few days, here’s our very own Christmas tree.
We’ve only put it up a week (or was it two weeks?) ago. If it was up to me, I can’t be bothered with one given the clutter we have at home…but the kids (and the head instigator, Silver Bullet) have been nagging me about it. I caved in the end, of course.
Like the other years before this, this time of the year is always about family time. And food. And it used to be just us and perhaps some friends, despite it being a working day on Christmas Day.
In a way, tomorrow will be no exception; it’ll still be about family and we’ll all be stuffing our faces. But it would be more than just the four of us. This time, it would be with family-family, on Christmas Day and not being in Bangkok.
Here’s to family time and our very first Christmas in the Netherlands! Ho!Ho!Ho!
The blue hour! It comes right after the golden hour in the evening and it’s the opposite in the morning. Favorite times for photographers to be out and shooting 🙂
Very pretty tree, Ann! Glad they talked you into it! Have a blessed Christmas and many bright stars in the future!
You mean there’s a name? Blue hour? I haven’t heard that before…!Those really are th emost beautiful I have found. In the mornings, the sights are different, but oh-so-pretty. Since we moved here, I cannot get enough of the sky. 🙂
Thanks, Jas! I still can’t believe I went along with it…but I relented only because I told them we could only do a small one. :p
Let’s hope for brighter than bright stars! xoxoxo
The cold winter air holds less moisture which makes the stars and planets appear even brighter. It makes for the best viewing season once you get past the cold 🙂 Beautiful tree and hope everyone had a great day!
Yeah it was brrrrrr…that makes sense though; the air moisture did not even comes to mind. See! That’s why we need teachers! 🙂
We had an absolutely day of fun! Now trying to find time to blog. Hope yours was too!