Winter Begins Sunday, December 21/Rare Conjunction in Sky

Posted Saturday, December 20, 2008, at 10:59 AM

On Dec. 1, the Moon, Venus (the brighter "star") and Jupiter assembled in the southwestern sky for a rare double conjunction, the last until 2052. Jupiter (low on the horizon) and Venus are still visible in the western sky soon after sunset, but much further apart. The 3 objects are really far apart-the moon about 1/4 million miles away, Venus 81 million miles away, and Jupiter 555 million miles away. (photo-Ken Renshaw)

I have made my first mistake in 2008 (HA!)-I will have to print a retraction to the blog of last week-winter actually begins shortly after 6 on Sunday morning, Dec. 21.

Speaking of the Winter/Christmas season, I'd like to invite everyone to the Choir Christmas Program at First Methodist Church, Piggott, Sunday morning at 9:45. We have a lot of wonderful singers, accompanied by Sandra Routszong on the organ, narration by Judy Nettles and David Gregory, under the direction of "yours truly".

NASA and space exploration

By Kenneth Renshaw

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Kenneth Renshaw NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador/Saturn Observation Campaign Kenneth is one of 494 volunteer educators and astronomers who donate their time to educate America's youth, and the general public, about astronomy and the U.S. space program. Organized in 1999 by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab,it focuses on spacecraft built by the JPL such as Voyager, Mars Rover, Galileo, Cassini as well as the Hubble Space Telescope. Renshaw is one of four ambassadors in Arkansas, and makes presentations to all age and experience groups from pre-school to university science level. His official NASA website it www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Kenneth_Renshaw.htm His email address is renshaw@newwavecomm.net

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