VIDEO: Sunset surprise at Alice Enevoldsen’s 2019 Winter Solstice welcome

(WSB photos/video unless otherwise credited)

At the end of a gray day that was part of 49 consecutive hours of rain, suddenly and quickly, a splash of pink spread across the southwest sky. And that’s how Alice Enevoldsen‘s Winter Solstice sunset watch concluded, with the ~20 in attendance admiring the surprise show.

Until then, it was a gathering much like the dozens of others over which Alice (above with her 8- and 3-year-old daughters) has presided over her decade as a volunteer NASA Solar System Ambassador. As always, she explained what the solstice and equinox are – specific points in the Earth’s annual orbit around the sun. Here’s how part of it went:

But no two sunset watches are exactly alike, depending on who shows up and what they ask about; this one morphed into a discussion of systems of timekeeping.

This gathering, like Alice’s others, was at Solstice Park, just northeast of Lincoln Park, highlighted by stone markers and paths lining up with where the sun sets on the solstices and equinoxes, when you can see it:

The actual winter-solstice moment is at 8:19 pm our time this evening. From here, the days start getting longer -a whole second more tomorrow between sunrise and sunset! P.S. The sunset was so beautiful (see our Instagram video recorded as the color deepened), here’s a bonus photo courtesy of Kanit Cottrell in Gatewood:

2 Replies to "VIDEO: Sunset surprise at Alice Enevoldsen's 2019 Winter Solstice welcome"

  • Deb December 21, 2019 (6:51 pm)

    Wasn’t that just a wonderful splash of color in the SW sky??? I ran upstairs to catch the full ‘show’ since I (again) missed Alice’s Winter Solstice welcome. I hope that others had a chance to glimpse the sunset and are encouraged to know longer days ahead .   Happy Winter Solstice.

  • 1994 December 22, 2019 (4:21 pm)

    Yes! I saw it too – what amazing colors! I made my teenager come have a look too :)

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