Today marks the cross-quarter event of Imbolc, the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Here in Arizona, we are having a mild winter thus far; today’s high was 59° with broken clouds and no precipitation hitting the ground, although we could see virga several times today as we were out and about.
The image above is a screen capture of the dynamic depiction of the grand octal earth orbital clock at Archaeoastronomy.com. I captured the image when planet Earth paused briefly at the Imbolc position in the orbit. Imbolc and the other cross-quarter names come from the Celtic to describe the seasonal mid-points in ancient times. Click on the image to enlarge (slightly).
I marked that website as a favorite.
Come on, Spring!
We’ve been visiting that site for years. They post a LOT of interesting and entertaining information.
We’re like “C’MON SUMMER” here.
Well, that’s a new term for me!
I just saw the “Losing the Night” video on the Archaeoastronomy site, and I agree with it. Here in Palm Desert, we have a lot of light pollution. Only the brightest stars are visible. Convict Lake, however, has very little pollution, and the whole Milky Way is visible. Nobody in the campground use anything but dimly lit camp lanterns, or flashlights to walk around.
I have made stands for some of those little solar powered path lights, and I often sit out at night with just that light lit. They give just enough light to see by, and reduce the light pollution in my immediate area. I can see more of the sky that way, while the light keeps my feet safe from stumbling, and casts just enough light on the small table on my drink and whatever cactus I am enjoying that night.
It is a big problem there since the massive development of the 1990s. We’re lucky we have fairly dark skies. I can stand out on the driveway most clear nights and see the milky way.
Our town passed a night sky-friendly ordinance a couple of years ago. The ordinance applies to new builds only, so we’re stuck with grandfathered lighting. Luckily, our little patch of desert is away from most of that.
When we built in 2010, we bought external sconces to only illuminate downward – a special order from an outfit in New Mexico. They work fine – I can stand on our driveway and see the milky way most clear nights.
Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson says they get more light pollution from Phoenix, 110 miles away than they do from Tucson, 40 miles away, due to the former city’s lack of light pollution control and the latter’s enforcement of controls.
We had a cottage in Palm Desert (half mile south of I-10 and Washington) years ago before the massive development of the 1990s and could use my little 90CM catadioptric Maksutov-Cassegrain to resolve nebulae, planets and stars. Too bad nobody gives a crap there anymore.
Yeah, too late here, which is odd, considering that this is the “eco-friendly” PDRK.
I remember your sconces, and liked them a lot.
I had forgotten what The Milky Way looked like after I moved out here. Then I went camping with a buddy, his kids, and my son. We were up about 5~6000′ and I got up about 2AM to use the latrine. As I was walking back, I wondered what the “cloud” was up in the sky, so I stopped to see if I could figure out what it was.
I looked up, and HOLY SMOKES! Look at all those stars!
It was amazing. Back in Illinois I could take a 20 minute drive, and be completely free from city lights. Out here? Geez….a 2 hour drive, at least!
When I was a kid in high school, we could drive to the south side of Palos Verdes Peninsula and see the milky way and lots of stars. Not any more . . .