Look what showed up for NASA Solar System Ambassador Alice Enevoldsen‘s quarterly solstice/equinox sunset watch in West Seattle – the sun! Two hours earlier, Alice tweeted at us regarding the sudden sun sighting:
Winter solstice in Seattle, and I just had to put on my sunglasses. WHAT??! @westseattleblog
— Alice Enevoldsen (@AlicesAstroInfo) December 21, 2012
While the gatherings are mostly a chance to find out more about the solar-system phenomena from a volunteer expert, actually seeing the sun means a chance to check the alignment of Solstice Park‘s special features. Here are some of the 30 or so sunset-watchers who showed up:
Checking our archives, it seems the sun appeared for last year’s winter-solstice-sunset event, too. This year, Alice had something extra to explain:
In recent months, she became an expert 2012-end-of-world debunker (see her various links/explanations here), so there was an extra note of triumph in the simple fact that tonight’s event did happen as scheduled. (P.S. The solstice moment itself was 3:12 am today. Next up – spring equinox, 4:02 am our time March 20, 2013. Watch for Alice’s event announcement when it gets closer – it’ll be on her website, along with other interesting astronomical updates, at alicesastroinfo.com.)
| 2 COMMENTS