Happy New Year!
Today is perihelion, the day earth is closest to the sun all year. Can't you just feel the warmth? It was 5 below zero at my house this morning! Our elliptical orbit around 'ol Sol brings us 3% closer each January. Of course the seasons have nothing to do with this change of a mere 4 million miles, but are due to the tilt of the earth toward or away from the sun. In winter your hemisphere points away from the sun, bringing less daylight and much less concentrated heat. Check out this cool animation of earth's orbit. Notice how we are moving faster as we swing closer to the sun (just like spacecraft whipping around a planet for extra speed), so hang on! http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/physical_science/physics/mechanics/orbit/perihelion_aphelion.html&edu=high
This cold clear weather following our record-breaking snows brings with it many delights. At least they are delightful to me, it's like the winters of my childhood. Blizzards followed by snow days followed by stingingly cold brilliant days and crisp starry nights. I have over 3 feet of snow at home, my car was totally buried into invisible oblivion yesterday. The only other time I've experienced that was returning to West Yellowstone after ten days cross-country skiing in the park. New England hasn't had this much snow in 100 years!
Cold weather preserves the quali or snow stuck on branches, transforming forests into a true winter wonderland! http://derek.gardenbuddies.com/gallery/albums/winter/mapleroad.jpg
The wet heavy snows fell during moderately warm temperatures giving snow crystals a chance to grow gloriously large. Sparkling stellar crystals, the classical 6 armed stars, danced in profusion locking arms to become giant snowflake http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm
Very cold air meeting relatively warm sea water creates sea smoke, those wispy ethereal clouds rising from Frenchman's Bay, bequeathing a real air of mystery! Enjoy sea smoke's transformation of snow clad trees near the water. At high tide sea smoke melts quali which quickly re-freezes into ice. In the sunlight icy trees sparkle like giant crystal chandeliers. Trees in direct sunlight all day may become iced too.
Enjoy the cold, snow and ice AND your warm cozy home at night! For some great reading about all the different kinds of snow and how snow pack affects animals, check out "The Secret Language of Snow" by Terry Tempest Williams and Ted Major. http://www.coyoteclan.com/books/snow.html
If you venture out to look at the stars tonight, keep your eyes peeled for shooting stars. The Quadrantid Meteor shower peaks tonight with about 50 meteors per hour. The radiant is near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper. Blazing bright in the southern sky, Orion will surely catch your notice. Check out this star map of the "Winter Hexagon" and see if you can find all the brightest stars. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.richardbell.net/Images/hexagon.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.richardbell.net/winter.html&h=497&w=504&sz=23&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=_PzPMpuzE0y6MM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwinter%2Bstars%2BOrion%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den
Warm regards,
The Dorr Museum of Natural History
Today is perihelion, the day earth is closest to the sun all year. Can't you just feel the warmth? It was 5 below zero at my house this morning! Our elliptical orbit around 'ol Sol brings us 3% closer each January. Of course the seasons have nothing to do with this change of a mere 4 million miles, but are due to the tilt of the earth toward or away from the sun. In winter your hemisphere points away from the sun, bringing less daylight and much less concentrated heat. Check out this cool animation of earth's orbit. Notice how we are moving faster as we swing closer to the sun (just like spacecraft whipping around a planet for extra speed), so hang on! http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/physical_science/physics/mechanics/orbit/perihelion_aphelion.html&edu=high
If it's any consolation, since we move slower in summer, that season lasts longer. Summer's dandy, but winter's quicker.
This cold clear weather following our record-breaking snows brings with it many delights. At least they are delightful to me, it's like the winters of my childhood. Blizzards followed by snow days followed by stingingly cold brilliant days and crisp starry nights. I have over 3 feet of snow at home, my car was totally buried into invisible oblivion yesterday. The only other time I've experienced that was returning to West Yellowstone after ten days cross-country skiing in the park. New England hasn't had this much snow in 100 years!
Cold weather preserves the quali or snow stuck on branches, transforming forests into a true winter wonderland! http://derek.gardenbuddies.com/gallery/albums/winter/mapleroad.jpg
The wet heavy snows fell during moderately warm temperatures giving snow crystals a chance to grow gloriously large. Sparkling stellar crystals, the classical 6 armed stars, danced in profusion locking arms to become giant snowflake http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm
Both stellar and plate (smooth hexagonal) crystals reflect light off their mirrored faces, sparkling like diamonds in sunlight. Last night, arriving home in the dark and using my pen flashlight to navigate between snow drifts, the dazzling reflections from the snow banks were dizzying. It was like trying to walk with a strobe light flashing. How wonderful! Blazing stars overhead, equaled in their splendor by constellations of glimmering snowflakes below!
Very cold air meeting relatively warm sea water creates sea smoke, those wispy ethereal clouds rising from Frenchman's Bay, bequeathing a real air of mystery! Enjoy sea smoke's transformation of snow clad trees near the water. At high tide sea smoke melts quali which quickly re-freezes into ice. In the sunlight icy trees sparkle like giant crystal chandeliers. Trees in direct sunlight all day may become iced too.
Enjoy the cold, snow and ice AND your warm cozy home at night! For some great reading about all the different kinds of snow and how snow pack affects animals, check out "The Secret Language of Snow" by Terry Tempest Williams and Ted Major. http://www.coyoteclan.com/books/snow.html
Sadly it is out of print. A great kids book, with enough detail, science and terminology for adults too, is "Who Lives in the Snow" by Jennifer Berry Jones. http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/product1.aspx?Category_ID=520&Product_ID=605
We have that book in the museum shop and it has amazing artwork exploring the wonders of snow revealing secrets of the subnivean world.
If you venture out to look at the stars tonight, keep your eyes peeled for shooting stars. The Quadrantid Meteor shower peaks tonight with about 50 meteors per hour. The radiant is near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper. Blazing bright in the southern sky, Orion will surely catch your notice. Check out this star map of the "Winter Hexagon" and see if you can find all the brightest stars. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.richardbell.net/Images/hexagon.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.richardbell.net/winter.html&h=497&w=504&sz=23&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=_PzPMpuzE0y6MM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwinter%2Bstars%2BOrion%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den
Mars will be shining bright orange just above Orion's head, half-way between orange super giant Betelgeuse and golden Capella.
Warm regards,
The Dorr Museum of Natural History
2 comments:
Is the the same as the Happy pagan holiday?
What pagan holiday are you referring to? Perihelion is an astonomical term referring to the point in earth's orbit that we are closest to the sun.
Solstice is a pagan holiday as is the day we celebrate as Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, but I am not aware of a pagan celebration coinciding with perihelion.
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